When Will my Death Begin?
by Ldynwaitin
Summary: Mother is on the rampage, she grounds Aidan and now his friends have become fugitives, a humiliation to the vampire community that Mother wants to fix. Running into a powerful enemy of Mother, they soon find themselves caught between two powerful foes bent on destroying each other, and anything that gets in their way. A sequel to 'Mother Knows Best'
1. The Beginning of the End

Authors Note:

I suggest you read, my "Mother Knows Best" first. This story takes up where that left off.

When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter One

The Beginning of the End

A cold breeze flew through the empty halls of The Carroll. It flowed down dark hallways, through long empty rooms. It was a special wind, for it was not born out of nature. It finally came to the room it was looking for. There were two occupants in the room, Randal was resting on a bed, next to him was a chair where Cecil sat. The curtains in the room shook as the wind whistled past them.

Cecil watched the curtains move. It was then that he noticed that the window was locked up tight. No natural breeze moved the curtains. Cecil felt the wind flow through him, getting up, he followed the breeze as it swept out of the room and down the hallways.

Randal tossed and turned on his bed. He was more tired now then he'd been in a long time, but it was a good tired. Using the money he had saved, he managed to actually talk the owners of The Carroll into selling it to him. Now the proud owner, he and Cecil had worked hard on creating a haven for werewolves.

So far he'd only managed to reinforce two rooms that he knew could contain a wolf. But in time he'd hoped to create a sanctuary for any wolf that felt persecuted by his kind. Feeling the room growing cold, he realized it was one of the hazards of buying a building with no windows. For now the only window in the place was in his room.

Sighing he dug his head into his pillow. He felt a soft breeze tickle his ear, softly, ever so softly he could swear he heard words whispered in the wind. Bolting up, he searched the room. Cecil was not sitting in his chair. He saw the curtains flowing in the breeze, yet he knew the windows in his room were not open.

"Who's there?" Randal asked. "Cecil, is that you?"

Cecil had grown to be a loyal companion. In the time he'd first left the Carroll he'd never left his side. But this time he was not in the chair he always sat in when Randal slept.

Suddenly Cecil appeared, "Randal," he gasped. "Something's got the ghosts in The Carroll spooked. And getting a ghost spooked is not an easy thing."

Randal saw the curtains flowing towards him, the breeze grew colder, so cold he would not be surprised to see snow falling in the room.

"Something's in here," Cecil whispered. He felt cold, it shocked him because since his death he had felt nothing.

Randal shouted, "Who are you, what do you want?"

He softly heard _"The Carroll,"_ whispered in the breeze.

"The Carroll," Cecil gasped. "How can it be the building?"

The moment Randal first entered this building he always suspected that there was something special about it. After what happened to Mother, his suspicion's grew stronger. Now they were confirmed, this building looked out for those that lived and died in it.

Listening carefully he heard words whispered so quietly he could not make them out. Slowly though, the words began to become clear. Randal stood up, letting the blanket fall to the floor as he distinctly heard the wind whisper, _"Josh…Aidan are in danger, return to Boston."_

"Did you hear that, Josh and Aidan," Cecil said. He turned to face Randal.

"Yes, I heard it," Randal said, as he picked up his cell phone and turned it on. He saw several calls that he missed when it was off. After making a few phone calls, he began to pack.

"Well," Cecil asked him. "What did you find out?"

"Mother," Randal softly replied. "She's on a rampage. She left a message. She said she's grounding Aidan tonight, and that she wants me to find his dog."

"Josh!" Cecil gasped. His eyebrows twisting in confusion, "What the hell is grounding?"

Randal closed his suitcase, "I'll tell you on the way, for now, we have to get back to Boston as soon as possible." Ten minutes later he was driving away from The Carroll.

If the Carroll had not warned him he would have slept most of the day. It was a sixteen hour drive back to Boston. Glancing at the clock in his car he saw 7:16 A.M. He would reach Boston at around eleven that night. He hoped he would make it there in time.

Aidan dug in his heels as he was dragged into the forest. He struggled to see straight as sweat and blood dripped into his eyes. Shaking his head his vision cleared, he now knew where he was being taken. He had an idea, just an inkling, but he never thought Mother would dare to do that to him.

Just ahead he saw an open grave. He fought harder to free himself from the grip of the vampires that held him, but they were to strong. He was weakened physically and emotionally at what he just witnessed. Suren was dead, killed by Mother.

He could faintly hear Mother talking behind him, "When this is done," he heard her say, "I want you to get in touch with Donal. I was unable to reach Randal so I sent him out to find Aidan's dog. That wolf has been an embarrassment to our kind for to long. Tell Donal I want it brought to me." She looked ahead, knowing that Aidan could hear her as she spoke louder.

"I want to deal with him, myself."

Aidan was dragged to an open grave, once he reached it, he saw an open coffin at the bottom. He was thrown inside the coffin, the binding on his wrists cut in deep. He saw Mother looking down at him.

"The famished ache that you will come to feel," she told him. "Is something very few can understand." Aidan looked up, he saw something in her eyes. He saw her struggling to look just at him.

"And the eternal madness that will result," she softly said. "Is a fate worse than no other."

Mother fought to keep her eyes on Aidan. For the past few months her life had been filed with vision's of the ghosts that would not leave her side. When she realized that only she could see them, she hid it from the others. She did not want to appear weak to them. She had no idea who they were at first. But as more appeared, she soon realized that they were the spirits of those that she had killed in her lifetime.

Standing over Aidan, she now saw a new addition to the hundreds that massed around her. A young woman stood above Aidan's grave. She looked down at Aidan. Her head slowly moved up and stared at Mother, her eyes still looked lovingly at her. Even after what she did, she still loved her. Mother closed her eyes, she tried to block out Suren's image. She heard Aidan say to her, "I can think of a worse fate."

Opening her eyes, she saw the hate in his eyes, she could feel his anger, his rage. Aidan slowly slid down into the coffin. Locking eyes with her, Aidan said, "Living an eternity knowing that you killed the only one that ever loved you."

He nodded at her, "Close it."

The vampire standing in the grave threw the lid to the coffin down. Jumping out dirt was now being shoveled into the grave. Aidan lay in darkness, as he heard the dirt hitting the coffin, his home now. In minutes the sound of dirt falling faded.

Mother waited at the grave until it was entirely filled with dirt. She kept her eyes down, hoping that no one saw the fear she fought to hide.

"It is done, Mother," one of the vampires declared.

Sighing, Mother slowly nodded her head. "I want a guard posted here, no one must be allowed to unbury him, understand?"

The vampires around them all nodded their heads, "Yes Mother."  
Mother knew she could not trust them, she never trusted anyone. She learned that early in life. Aidan had made many friends, she needed to eliminate them as well. Slowly she turned and walked away from the grave. She kept her head lowered, faintly, to the side she saw a dark haired woman following her. Briskly walking, she fled Aidan's gravesite.

Aidan was now truly alone, closing his eyes he tried to hold on to the last time he saw, Suren alive. Snatching that image he latched onto it, it would be the only thing that would keep him from going insane. He opened his eyes when he heard a scratching on the coffin, his head fell back when he heard someone whisper, "Aidan."

Josh stared at the gun held in his face, he swallowed hard with fear clutching at his throat. Everything had so not go as planned. He should have listened to his instincts, they shouted at him not to come, but he was so upset with all that had happened to him, to Nora and Julia. He needed to, had to end it here and now. The back of his head ached, blood dripped down from his nose. He could see that Ray looked about as bad as he felt.

"You wanted to kill me, kill me?!" Ray shouted.

Josh flinched as Ray slammed the butt of the gun in his gut. He cocked the gun and held the barrel right between Josh's eyes.

"What a mistake you turned out to be. I heard how you've been trying to find a way to end the curse. You stupid, stupid fool, I gave you a gift, son."

"I am not your son," Josh slowly said with his teeth clenched. "I didn't want this THING you gave me, this curse. This was not a gift, it ruined my life and those around me. Tell me how this 'gift' made my life, anyone's life better."

Ray slowly shook his head, "If you don't know by now, then you'll never know." He held the gun to his face, "I created you, and it looks like it's up to me to end your miserable life Come on, let's do this your way."

Josh tightly clenched his teeth. He stared at the gun, he saw Ray's finger begin squeezing the trigger. Closing his eyes he waited for the curse to finally end. That's when he heard something he never expected to hear.

"Put it down, put it down," Nora frantically shouted.

Opening his eyes Josh saw Nora run from behind the shack. She held a pistol in her hands.

"A bullet in me," Ray told Nora, "Is the same as a bullet in him, sweetheart."

"Nora, he's right," Josh told her. He realized he couldn't save himself, but he could save Nora. "Shoot me, save yourself."

He looked up at her, his eyes begging her to do it. "Shoot me, Nora do it.

Do it, Shoot me!" Josh pleaded with her. He saw this as a final end, a way to make it better. His death would mean life for Nora, would end the curse he gave her.

He smiled when he saw her cock the gun. Her eyes glanced from Ray to Josh. She panted hard, licking her lips she slowly aimed the gun towards Josh.

Josh let his head drop to the ground, after all his searching for a cure, his curse would finally end.

"I'm not letting you do it, sweetheart," Ray shouted. "He's my mistake that I have to correct."

Ray slowly began to pull the trigger. "Don't do it," Nora shouted. She aimed her pistol at Ray's head. "Do it, and you die."

Ray and Nora slowly squeezed their triggers, they stopped when they heard a voice call out from the forest. "Such drama, you should have sold tickets."

Wiping the blood from his nose, Josh saw a tall figure walking out from the forest. Immediately he knew it was a vampire. His face flushed cold when he saw several more vampires walking behind him. Josh immediately recognized the lead vampire, he saw him back at the hotel when Randal first brought him in.

The tall Vampire stopped a few yards away from them. Ray and Nora aimed their guns at the vampires. "Stinking blood suckers," Ray hissed.

A dark skinned vampire angrily hissed at Ray, "You going to let him talk to you that way, Donal?" he asked the tall vampire.

Donal slowly smiled. "What a gift, Leon. We come here looking for one mutt and find three curs. I look forward to seeing you in the dog fights, Blondie." He threw a kiss at Nora.

Ray's hand began to shake, he had heard of the fights but so far managed to stay away from them.

Donal's hand moved up, he pointed at Josh. "But not you, I don't know why, but Mother say's she wants to make sure I bring Aidan's dog to her in one piece. Said I'm to bring you straight to her." His head slowly tilted to the side, he curiously stared at Josh, "Don't know what makes you so special, hopefully Mother will let me know. Just got a call, with Aidan grounded she's going to be feeling really generous."

"What?" Josh gasped. He struggled to stand, "She wouldn't do that to Aidan."

"It's a done deal," Donal said. He then grimaced, "Why the hell am I talking to you, mutt." He pointed towards Ray and Nora. "Have fun, guys."

Ray brought his gun up, "Not going to be that easy," he grunted. Nora saw where he pointed his gun. She raised hers and fired the same time as Ray. Their bullets flew in the air, past the vampires and into a small propane tank that stood next to the shack.

The tank exploded with the bullets impact, fire and large pieces of the tank flew towards the vampires. They ran back, most were trying to pat down their enflamed clothes. Ray spun around and slammed the butt of his gun into Josh's side. Josh bent over and gasped for breath from the cowardly blow. "That should keep them busy long enough for me to get away," Ray shouted. Nora grabbed Josh as Ray was running into the forest.

"Gotta go, Josh," she panted, as she dragged him into the forest. They ran past the trees and the thick undergrowth without looking back. They could hear the cries of the vampires behind them. From the violence of the explosions, Josh hoped that most of them were caught in the flash fire that flew out of the tank.

Trying to catch his breath, Josh began to move towards the west. "There's a cemetery," he told Nora. "Just west of here, saw it when I was looking for a place to turn." He smiled at her, "Big wall and lots of mausoleums to hide in there, we should be safe."

Running as fast as his legs could carry him he dared to look back. He saw the flames from the tank were still burning bright, it lit up the night sky. He stopped and struggled to breathe. He found it hard to take a full breath. He looked up at Nora with such pain in his eyes. She wanted to examine him, but he brushed her back. "No time, Ray did a real number on me. Nora, I'm just going to keep you back, let the vampires catch up with me." He pointed ahead, "The cemetery is about five minutes that way. You need to go before they come."

Nora shook her head, "Josh Levison I am not leaving you here to those blood thirsty vampires."

Josh half grinned, "Didn't you hear? Mother wants me for something special. Not sure what, but for now I don't think they will hurt me, much."

"And if you're wrong?"

Josh smiled, "Then your curse is over."

Nora grabbed his arm, "You're coming with me, NOW!"

Josh pulled his arm from her grip, "Nora, if they capture you, they'll put you in the dog fights." He wiped a small tear from his eye. "I've been there Nora, I can't have that happen to you, I'd rather die."

Nora began to pull him down a small trail, "I'll take that chance, I'm not leaving you here."

She placed his arm on her shoulder, and helped him to run. She could hear him struggling to breathe. She had no idea the damage done by Ray, she prayed that Josh was right, and the cemetery was not far.


	2. Mother's Shadow

Being Human: When Will my Death Begin?

Chapter Two

Mother's Shadow

Ray raced through the forest, hearing a rushing ahead he actually felt the temperature drop as he was hit by a strong breeze. Zipping up his jacket, he pulled his hood up. He ran faster, he had to stay ahead of the vampires. No way in hell was he going to end up in a dogfight run by them.

Finding a road, he searched each side, not a car in sight. Slowly snow began to fall, he hugged his arms around his chest as the wind picked up. The cold breeze just tore right through him. He chose to go up the road he found, and prayed that a car would come by. Walking a few feet, he stopped. The snow was falling harder now. He faintly saw a dark hunched figure standing ahead on the road.

"I do love me a good snow fall, don't you?" an old woman's voice called out.

Nervously wiping his mouth, Ray took a step back. Turning around, he gasped in shock as the figure was now standing behind him, just a few feet down the road.

"Not a nice thing you did back there," Ray heard the woman say. Ray turned around, the figure was in front of him again, but much closer.

Ray cocked the shotgun and held it up, he could see the snowflakes falling on top of the gun's barrel. "Get out of my way," he shouted. "I'm not going to be made a part of your dog show."

The woman actually laughed, it was a cold laugh. "You don't know how far from the truth you are."

Ray flinched when he heard a howl behind him. Then he jumped as the mysterious woman was now standing just a few feet in front of him. Her face was aged and yellowed. He saw strands of grey hair peeking out of a ragged shawl that covered her head. She smiled at Ray, not a tooth was left in her mouth. She just had something about her that told Ray she was not all that she appeared to be.

"What are you doing out here, wolf?"

"How did you know what I am, who the hell are you?" Ray demanded. He stared at the woman, "Are you a vampire?"

Ray saw the woman's brows furrow in hate and anger.

"Never," she hissed, "Never associate me with that KIND." As quick as the hateful look came, it disappeared, replaced by a smile. She leaned forward and sniffed Ray. She sneezed and shook her head. "No, I do not smell her on you. If you see Mother, I want you to tell her something for me."

"What the hell do you mean by…" Ray never finished his sentence. The woman waved her hand, the shotgun was pulled out of his hands and flung into the forest. She fisted her hands. Ray felt invisible fingers choking him. The woman shouted angrily at him, "You betrayed your kind, injured him so you could run away like the stinking coward that you are. If there's anything I hate in this world, its cowards."

She closed her fist tighter, Ray clawed at his throat. He could not breathe, his legs buckled and he fell to the ground. The woman now began to hum, her song filled the cold night air. Ray felt every muscle, every bone begin to freeze until he could not move.

The old woman stopped humming, Ray watched her slowly walk down the road and fade into the snowfall. Seconds later two vampires caught up to him. Leon was one of them. He kicked Ray in the back, "Stinking mutt," he growled. "Making me run out in this cold and snow, you're gonna pay for that."

He ordered the other vampire to tie Ray up. As he waited he could swear he saw someone standing in the distance, faintly through the snowfall. Feeling hungry he began to walk towards the figure.

"Hey, whatcha doing out here?'

"I mean you no harm, sir. I'm just out for a stroll," Leon heard an old woman's voice answer back. "I do so love a good snowfall, don't you?"

Leon searched around, "You alone?"

"Oh, no," the woman sighed. "I was looking for my dog. Have you seen him?"

Leon laughed, "Yeah, I've seen three. But I don't think it was…" Leon stopped talking when the woman just suddenly disappeared. "What the hell?" he cursed. He heard a grunt then a shout from behind. Spinning around he saw his companion lying on the ground screaming in agony. Rushing to his side, he couldn't believe his eyes. A thick tree root had actually grown out of the ground and was sticking out of his companions stomach.

Leon jumped back as a branch from a tree tumbled through the snow and landed at his feet. "Aw, is the scary vampire frightened of a harmless tree branch?" the old woman taunted him.

Leon reached down and picked up the tree branch. "I'm going to rip your face off for that," he angrily shouted. "You don't know who you're messing with."

In a flash Leon saw the old woman standing in front of him. Her dark eyes burned right through him. "No," she cackled. "That's what I say."

Leon tightly gripped the tree branch. Lashing out he tried to hit her, she was gone so quickly Leon stumbled as he hit empty air.

"You're not a vampire," Leon shouted. "What the hell are you?"

Leon heard his companion shout a warning, but it was to late. He felt a sharp pain in his back and fell to his knees. He saw the pointy end of a stake sticking out of his stomach.

He felt boney fingers wrap around his head, he screamed in pain. The pain was so intense, he felt it to his very core. It was as if she was sucking the life out of him.

"Oh yes, so delicious, your hate is so strong, so intense. I always get so much out of you younger Jacks."

"Stop it!" Leon pleaded. "Please, no more."

The old woman pulled her hands back. "I'll stop, if you tell me what I want to know," the old woman snarled. "Why are you out here?"

Leon howled in pain as she dug her fingers into his forehead. He heard her humming a song behind him, her beautiful voice rung in his ears. The pain began to grow stronger, until he felt as if his insides were burning.

"Tell me," the woman hissed. "Did Mother send you out here to find me? Is that why you're here?"

"A wolf!" Leon panted. "She sent me out here to find a wolf. Please," he gasped. "No more."

"What's so important about this wolf?" she asked him.

Leon shook his head, "I don't know, but he must be special, Mother ordered us to find a dog named Josh. He's supposed to be Aidan's wolf. We were to bring him back to her, unharmed. Please, I've told you everything I know. No more, please no more."

"Aidan, I wonder why he's linked with a wolf?" the woman said, as she pulled her hands back. Leon fell to his hands and knees, drawing in deep breaths. The woman was now standing in front of him. Her smile was so innocent, so sweet. An innocence that was marred by the hunger that danced in her eyes. "My, my that was quite easy, to easy. It used to take me longer to make your kind talk. Guess Mother is getting lazy, choosing addled weaklings to change now."

"Who are you?" Leon's companion gasped. He struggled to pull himself off the grounded root.

"The last of my kind…" the old woman sadly stated. "…Thanks to Mother. But I will live to see another day, unfortunately you will not." She motioned to the fallen branch. Splintering it flew towards Leon, piercing his heart. In seconds his skin turned gray, he crumbled into a cloud of dust.

The old woman then waved her hand. The large roots grew out of the trapped vampire. Circling back they slammed hard into the vampires chest, piercing his heart. He too joined his companion.

Ray was covered in the vampires dust, faintly he found he could move his fingers. The old woman squatted next to Ray, "That spell will be wearing off soon. You did a good job of playing prey. I needed to know why they were here, they were getting a little to close."

The woman stared into Ray's eyes. Ray felt as if he was falling into them. "If you live long enough to see Mother," she told him. "I want you to tell her that her shadow is still out there." She then patted Ray on the head, "There's a good doggie."

Barely able to move, Ray was left on the ground. The old woman waved her hand, the bonds on his hand fell. She opened his hand and placed a large splinter of wood in his palm. Standing up she slowly wobbled away. Minutes later two more vampires appeared. This time the old woman did not appear as Ray hoped. Covered in dust, with a wooden splinter in his hand, they wrongly guessed that Ray dusted the other vampires. He was quickly snatched up and carried away. He closed his eyes and cursed Josh. He got him into this trouble. If he managed to live long enough to be put in the dogfights, he prayed that his opponent would be Josh.

Nora breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a tall brick wall in front of her. It seemed to go on forever.

"That's it," Josh panted. Once they reached the wall they were hit by a strong wind, they both shivered as the temperature around them began to drop drastically. "Cold front," Josh said. "I heard it was going to hit, just didn't know it would be so soon." He tapped the brick wall. "This wall surrounds the entire cemetery. The gate is in the center."

"Let's find it before it gets colder," Nora said. She was wearing a light jacket, the cold wind flew right through it. They quickly ran down the wall, Josh used the wall as a crutch, he was still out of breath from Ray's beating. He glanced back each time he heard a twig snap. He'd forgotten how large the cemetery was. Nora wondered if this place even had an entrance. Turning a corner she let out a frustrated gasp, it was another wall. It seemed to never end.

Josh took in a deep breath and began to move forward, he jumped back when a young man suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Damn it, Cecil," Josh cursed. "You scared the life out of me."

"You still got eight more," Cecil said with a laugh. "Or is it seven?"

"That's a cat," Josh answered back, he was never so happy to see Cecil standing in front of him. He knew where Cecil was, Randal was not far behind.

"Is this your Nora?" Cecil asked him.

Nora saw the ghost of a young man standing next to Josh. Josh realized she had no idea who Cecil was, he never told her what happened at the Carroll. When they left that day, they all made a pact to keep Mother's secret from spreading any farther.

"Nora," Josh said. "This is an old friend, Cecil, this is Nora.'

"Glad to meet you," Cecil said. "Josh, I came here to warn you…."

Josh quickly cut him off, "Mother is after my ass…again," he sighed. "Already know, got some vampires not to far behind."

"I passed by them looking for you, they're minutes behind you." Cecil saw Josh's bloody face. "It looks like they did a number on you already."

"Oh, that wasn't them, but that's another story. Is Randal nearby?" Hearing a crashing in the forest, he resumed running next to the wall. "Wherever he is, he's not close enough."  
"Who's Randal?" Nora asked Josh.

"I'll tell you later, for now we need to find a place we can hide from the vampire's chasing us. Cecil, there's a cemetery on the other side of this wall, we're looking for its entrance. Can you go to Randal and tell him where we're headed?"

Cecil nodded his head, "Be right back." He quickly blinked out.

Feeling something cold on her cheek Nora looked up into the sky. She groaned when she saw large snowflakes falling from above. Josh looked down, the snow was not heavy, but soon the vampires would be able to track them by their steps in the snowfall. They needed to get to that cemetery before it snowed harder.

They assumed running close to the cemetery's walls. Just ahead Nora saw it, two large cast iron gates. Opened wide, she breathed a sigh of relief as they ran closer.

Josh glanced back, he could swear he saw something moving through the forest. "Have to run faster," he told Nora. Reaching the gates, they stopped when they suddenly slammed shut.

Through the gates they saw people moving through the cemetery. Men, women, children, the cemetery was large, and it was filled with ghosts.

Pointing a musket at them, a young male ghost was running towards them. He was dressed in a Colonial soldier's uniform, and was screaming at them. He couldn't have been more than eighteen when he died. "NO, no, thou must not enter my cemetery. Thou can not come here, no wolves allowed. Stand your ground, you shall not pass!" He pointed his musket at Josh.

Josh slammed his hands on the closed gates, "Really," he shouted. "Mother's vampires chasing us and we're stopped by a drummer boy!" The ghost stopped on the other side of the gates, his face was twisted in anger.

"I am not a drummer boy, I have been protecting this cemetery for hundreds of years. 'Twas ordered to guard it when I was alive. I died protecting her, but even that did not stop me from my appointed duty. I still had a job to do. That is to keep any trouble away from here. Thou are not allowed in here, twill only cause botheration. 'Tis my job to protect the cemetery, now pray leave."

"Please," Josh pleaded with the ghost. "We need to find a safe place to hide, we're being chased by vampires."

The colonial soldier laughed, "Just as I said, thou hast trouble written across thy brow. Now leave before I call in the other members of the cemetery."

They took a step forward when they heard a hoop and a holler coming from the forest. "We don't have time to argue," Josh said. Taking in a deep breath, he slammed his shoulder against the iron gates. The soldier immediately fired his musket. It's ghost bullet harmlessly flew past the gate and through Josh. He gasped as he felt something cold pass through him, but that was the extent of the ghost's attack.

Grinning Josh continued to slam against the gate until it flung open. In a flash he shoved Nora into the cemetery and slammed the gates shut. Before Nora could react he pulled out a lock from his pocket and used it to lock the gates shut.

"I was going to use this to lock Ray inside the shack," he explained.

"Josh don't so this, let me out. We can do this together," Nora shouted. She tightly gripped the bars of the gate and shook them.

Josh sadly smiled, "I'm sorry Nora, this is all my fault and I'm going fix it. I'm going to lead the vampires away from here. You should be safe until Cecil comes back with Randal." He softly whispered, "I love you." Spinning around he ran into the forest. Nora banged her hands against the locked gates.

"Damn you, Josh!"

Josh could hear her cries fade as he ran from the cemetery. The snow was beginning to fall down hard now. He quickly moved through the forest, praying that the vampires would follow him. Running through some thick bushes he gasped in alarm when he found the ground beneath him opened up. Clutching for anything to stop his fall, he found himself sliding down a steep slope. Seconds later he finally stopped sliding. Coughing, he sat up. He found that he was at the bottom of a large gulley.

He could see a small stream of water that flowed at the bottom of the gulley. Looking up he realized that he would never be able to climb back up, the angle was just to steep. Struggling to stand, he made his way down the gulley.


	3. Fidele

Being Human: When will my death begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Three

Fidele

Nora slammed her shoulder against the Iron Gate, but it would not open. She cursed aloud, "Damn it Josh, I came here to save you, not the other way around."

"Pray leave," the soldier pleaded. "Thou cannot be here."

"I don't want to be here," Nora angrily snapped back. "But as you can see," she shook the locked gate. "I'm stuck in here, unless you can find me another way out."

The soldier planted his gun on the ground and began to scratch his head. "Well," he said. "Thou may be able to use what the town boys use to get in here."

"Town boys?" Nora said.

"Yes, those scalawags break in here all the time. I tried to keep them out, but they just do not see me."

"A way out," Nora impatiently said. "You know of another way out of here?"

"Why yes," the soldier said. Lifting his gun he pointed down the wall. "There is a tree that grows outside of the walls. One of its branches fell during a great storm. It now lies on this side of the wall. Thou may be able to…"

Nora ran down the wall, the soldier's words fading away. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw ahead, just what the soldier said. A large branch had broken from a tree on the other side of the wall. Running up to the branch, she scrambled up. She was able to climb to the top of the wall. Reaching it, she jumped over to the other side. She quickly headed in the direction she saw Josh run.

As she came to the forest, she saw his footprints in the snow on the ground. Keeping her head down she followed his footsteps. She nearly jumped out of her skin as a wall suddenly stood in front of her, but this one was made of flesh.

She began to step back when she realized that a very large vampire now stood in her way. She pointed her gun towards the vampire. She knew it was useless, but it was the only weapon she had.

"S…s...stay away from me," she warned the large vampire.

Before the vampire could say anything Nora got another shock, as Cecil suddenly popped in front of her.

"Where's Josh?" Cecil asked her.

"I'd tell you, but there's something more pressing that I have to take care of, like this vampire." She jerked her head for Cecil to look behind her. Turning around, Cecil said, "Where, behind Randal?"

"Randal?" Nora sighed in relief.

Randal bowed his head, "Sorry if I scared you."

"Scared me?" Nora said, with a laugh. "No you didn't scare me, you just took ten years off of my life."

"Was not my intention," Randal said. He looked behind Nora, "But as Cecil said, where's Josh?"

Nora pointed ahead, "Those footprints in the snow is where he was. We need to follow them."

"Well let's go," Randal said. "Mother's Vampires are still in the forest looking for you."

For the first time this night, Nora felt safe. She had a big vampire with her, and he was on her side. She had a glimmer of hope that they just may get out of this forest, alive.

Josh's shoes soon became soaking wet as he trudged through the ice-covered water. Searching ahead, he saw the gulley split. Stopping at the fork, he chose to go to the left. He soon found that it was the wrong choice. The left led to a very large hole in the ground. He could see trees struggling to grow out of the hole. Close to a full moon, his sense of smell was already becoming heightened. He could smell dead animals below, the hole was a death trap. Turning around he walked back and took the right fork. Several minutes later he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the gulley open up. The small stream of water flowed into a thick forest.

Josh sniffled as he walked through the now heavy snowfall. The snowfall was so heavy now, he could barely see three feet in front of him. He suddenly stopped when he heard something, it sounded like someone crying. He quickly walked towards the sound. He found a small animal caught on an old iron animal trap chained to a tree. It was a small black dog. The first thing that Josh noticed was his eyes. They were purple. It wore a bright red collar around its neck. It struggled viciously to be released from the metal teeth that dug into its leg. Josh had heard that an animal would bite its own leg off to get free from a trap.

Rushing to the trap he softly spoke to the wounded animal. "Don't worry," he told the dog. "You don't have to be afraid of me." Grinning he added, "We're cousin's…in a way." The dog stopped struggling. It looked up at Josh, its purple eyes nearly glowed in the darkness. Josh examined the trap that held the dog. It was viscous looking. He saw small metal teeth digging into the dog's leg. It looked up at him with such pain in his eyes. Josh had to find a way to release it. Gripping both sides, he attempted to pull it open. He gritted his teeth and took in a deep breath. He slowly began to pull the jaws of the trap apart. It took a lot just to pull it slightly open. He lowered his head and pulled harder. The dog flinched when it felt the teeth's bite lessen.

Josh nearly released the trap when he heard shouting in front of him. They were calling his name, it had to be the vampires. He looked down at the dog. The trap was nearly open, he had to finish what he started. Gripping the trap tighter, he used his fear of the vampires to give him the strength to open the trap. The teeth began to bite into his hands, but he ignored the pain. Just a few more seconds, he thought.

He heard a click, and the dog quickly pulled its leg from the trap. It immediately began to lick the wound. Josh carefully placed the open trap on the ground. He then gently picked up the dog and ran behind some large boulders. He laid the wounded dog down, he was thankful that it did not bite him.

"Stay here," he whispered to the dog. "You don't want to mess with them." The dog's bright eyes stared at him, as if saying thanks. Standing up he spun around and ran into the forest. Glancing behind he could see shadows running through the snowfall. An idea came to him, he had only one advantage. He knew what lie ahead of him. He ran as fast as he could back into the gulley. Reaching the fork he looked back to make sure his pursuers were following him. His answer came as he heard them splashing in the stream that ran through the gulley.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him down the left fork of the gulley. He knew the drop was just ahead. He just needed to get there before the vampires.

He came to the edge of the deep hole. The snowfall was so heavy now the hole was nearly invisible. He quickly hid in some bushes that grew on the side. He tried to hold his breath as he heard the vampires footsteps. He saw them run by, seconds later he heard several screams and bodies falling. Standing up he walked to the edge of the hole. He hoped it was deep enough to keep them from finding Nora.

He ran back to where he hid the dog. He found it there, waiting for him. Knelling down he examined the leg. It was not broken, but he was wounded. He examined the collar that it wore. He saw the name Fidele etched into the red leather.

"Fidele," he said. "So you're a boy." The dog lifted his head. "The collar means you have a master." Josh searched around. "I hope your home is not to far from here." He gently picked up the animal. It laid its head on his shoulder.

Turning around Josh gulped hard. One of the vampires was standing a few feet ahead of him. It was Donal, his eyes were twisted in rage.

"I thought I smelled blood." He saw a small dog with purple eyes in Josh's arms, the blood on the dogs leg made him salivate. "To bad it wasn't yours," Donal hissed in a low voice. He took a small step forward.

"Stay back," Josh shouted.

"Or what?" Donal said. "Are you going to stop me?" he began to laugh. "Stinking mutt, if it wasn't for you I'd be nice and warm at home, and not freezing in this cold."

Josh turned around to protect the wounded dog as Donal ran towards him. He was violently knocked to the ground. Fidele tumbled out of his arms. Josh gasped in pain as he was reminded of the bruises left from his fight with Ray.

Donal's face changed. His teeth grew longer. He snarled in rage at Josh as he turned him around to face him. "Mother said we're supposed to bring you back alive." He said in a humble tone, "I'm sorry Mother, but he chose to resist capture."

Lunging forward Donal picked him up and threw Josh at a tree. Landing hard, Josh fell unconscious at its roots. Donal was about to rush to Josh when something landed on his back.

It was Fidele, he lunged at Donal, his fangs dug deep into his back. As he bit harder into the vampire, he suddenly changed into a wolf. His hind legs scratched at Donal's back. His claws dug in deep. The vampire tried to get him off, but he would not let go. Spinning around, he grabbed a leg and threw Fidele away. The wolf deftly landed in the snow. His jowls pulled back, his teeth covered in Donal's blood he angrily snapped at him. Donal noticed a red collar hung on the wolf's neck. He also noticed that its eyes were purple, like the dog.

The wolf lunged at him, Donal jumped back, he howled in pain as his foot hit the trap. Snapping shut its iron teeth dug deep into his leg. "Damn you," Donal cursed at the wolf. He tried to open it, but the pain was just too intense. Grabbing the chain attached to the trap he pulled on it, the links on it were too thick, he could not break it. Hearing a growling he released the chain. He saw the wolf slowly walking towards him.

Donal pulled out a gun and cocked it. "This was meant for the other mutt, luckily I got two silver bullets." He was about to shoot the wolf when he heard a scream from the forest that chilled him to the bone. Suddenly the gun flew out of his hands. He was flung back and slammed hard onto the tree. He slowly moved up the tree, he grimaced as the chain tugged on the trap, digging the teeth deeper into his leg. He stopped when he reached the end of the chain. He seemed to be glued to the tree's trunk.

Donal struggled to pull himself free, but some unseen force held him to the tree. He saw an old woman walking towards him. Her hand held high, she angrily glared at Donal.

Her eyes were dark and bottomless. She looked up at the vampire, and spat out, "More of Mother's filth."

"Who you calling filth?" Donal shouted. "Let me down and you'll see how much filt…" Donal stopped talking when the old woman shouted, "Silence."

Donal clutched his throat, he felt as if invisible hands were squeezing him. As he struggled to breathe, he saw the wolf transform, it changed back into the injured dog. He limped to the old woman. She smiled as Fidele barked at her. Her smile turned to a frown when she saw the blood on his leg.

"What have you done!" she shouted. Donal's breath was knocked out of him as he slammed harder into the tree. The old woman was shaking with rage. Bending down she examined the dog. She saw the wounds on the dog's leg and the trap on the vampire's leg. Slowly the woman approached Donal.

"Mother sent you, didn't she," she snarled. "I'd thought she'd given up by now. Well you're not going to live long enough to tell her where I am." Her hand twisted in the air, the choking hold stopped on Donal.

"Let me go, witch," Donal shouted. "And I promise I won't tell Mother anything."

"I've lived long enough to know that a vampire is incapable of telling the truth," the witch growled. "Tell me, were you looking for a wolf named Josh?"

"Yes," Donal said. "A dog named Josh, that's why I'm here. He's just over there." Donal motioned with his head to where Josh lay. "That's the only reason why I'm here. If you'll let me go, I'll just take him and leave. I promise Mother will never hear about you."

Closing her eyes, the old woman began to hum a tune. Donal heard creaking as the branches of the tree began to break off. Splintering in the air, they flew towards the vampire. Hitting his chest, he gasped as one of the large splitters found his heart. Seconds later the vampires dust joined the snowfall. The empty trap clattered to the ground.

The old woman nodded her head, "You were right, you won't tell Mother where I am." She was about to turn her attention back to Fidele when she froze. She raised her head in the air. Taking in a deep breath her eyes focused on where Josh was lying unconscious.

She stepped up to where Josh lay. Taking in another breath, her head turned curiously to the side. "He's a wolf all right, but there's also something else. I can smell vampires and ghosts on him." She shook her head. "That's unusual, very unusual. I can tell that he's been with the vampires for a long time. To long, he may have to be put down, pity," she sighed.

Her hand moved towards Josh. Suddenly Fidele ran to Josh, as he ran he began to change again. A small boy now blocked her from reaching Josh. His body was covered in short black hair, his red collar hung from his neck. His purple eyes fiercely looked at the old woman.

"No Deanna, not this one, please not this one." He turned around, his small hand stroked Josh's face. "I was caught in a trap, Deanna. It was made of Iron, I could not free myself. He came to me, helped me. He didn't have to, but he freed me from the trap he did. Then he led the vampires away from me. He risked his life to save me." He looked back at Deanna, his eyes so sad, so pleading. "In all the years we have been together I have never ask much from you. I've always been loyal to you, done everything you've asked of me. You know that. All I ask is that you do not kill him, yet." The young boy looked down at Josh.

"Never has anyone risked their life for me. His eyes are so sad, Deanna." He stood his ground in front of Josh. "Please, give him to me. I promise to take care of him. You won't even know he's there. I'll never ask you for anything again." Deanna stared at Josh. She still needed to know why Mother thought he was so special. Hear hate for Vampires had gotten the better of her, she had killed the vampire without getting more information from him.

"I have questions that need answering, Fidele," she told the boy. "For now I will let him live, but I won't make any promises," she wagged her finger at him. "This wolf has my curiosity up. I want to know why Mother wants him so bad, and how the goddess did he become friends with Aidan." Suddenly Josh began to stir. "Quickly now," Deanna urged Fidele. "Change back before he wakes."

Fidele instantly changed back into the small dog as he loped back to her. Josh began to moan, opening his eyes he sat up. He saw an old woman standing in front of him, Fidele was sitting next to her. He quickly searched the area. He was surprised to find he was still alive. There was no sign of Donal.

"There, there, are you all right, boy?" the old woman's hoarse voice asked him.

"I'm fine," he told her as he slowly stood up. "What are you doing here in the middle of no where?"

"I was looking for my Fidele if you must know. I was worried when he had not come home." She let out a sad sigh, "Poor thing, he seemed to have been injured."

"Yes,' Josh said. "I released him a trap."

"Oh," the old woman gasped in joy. "Then I have you to thank for getting him out of that nasty thing. May I ask what is the name of Fidele's savior?"

"Josh," he replied. "Josh Levison."

Deanna secretly smiled. This was the wolf that the vampires were looking for. She needed to think of a way of getting him to her cottage. "Josh," the woman said with a grin. "I go by Deanna, just Deanna."

"Pleased to meet you," Josh said. He searched behind the woman, he just could not figure out why he why he was alive and Donal wasn't there.

"Look," Josh said. "You have to go home, these woods are not safe."

"I would if I could, but…," Deanna pointed to Fidele. "He'll never make it back to our cottage. I'm an old woman, would you be able to carry him for me? Our home is not far from here."

Josh looked down at the dog, he was injured badly, and the old woman would never be able to carry him back to their home. As Josh thought about what he should do he heard Deanna humming. It was soft at first. It seemed to relax him. Something inside told him that it was the right thing to do.

He quickly picked up the small dog. "I'll carry him for you, but we have to hurry. Lead the way."

"Thank ye kindly, Josh. Come now, my cottage is not far from here. You need to get out of this cold."

A voice in Josh's head told him that she was right. He was cold, wet, and the dog was hurt. Besides, he wouldn't stay long. He could look for Nora later. He allowed her to lead him away. They stumbled through the forest and into the blizzard.


	4. Secrets and Revelations

Being Human: When will my Death Begin

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Four

Secrets and Revelations

Nora yipped as she was grabbed by Randal and pulled back. She quickly realized he had just saved her from nearly stepping into a gulley. They had been looking for Josh for nearly twenty minutes. Searching down the gulley, she asked Randal, "You think Josh could have fallen in?"

Randal scanned below, "It's a possibility."

Cecil suddenly blinked out. Nora faintly saw him at the bottom of the gulley. Looking around he shouted, "Something fell down here, lots of broken branches."

Before Nora could say a word, Randal scooped her up in his arms and jumped into the gulley. Landing safely he placed her on the ground. Nora zipped up her jacket, "Warn a girl next time," she scolded him.

"Sorry," Randal said. "With vampires searching for Josh, I figured we needed to get down here as quick as possible."

"Hey guys, you can apologize later," Cecil shouted. He was a few feet down the gulley. "Let's go, Josh may need us."

Nora moved quickly down the gulley. She made a mental note to let Randal know to ask first before doing that again. She nearly swallowed her heart in that jump.

Minutes later they came to a bend in the gulley. Randal searched the ground, "I see lots of footprints…recent. They appear to go both ways," he explained.

"We split up," Cecil suggested. "I'll take the left fork, you guys take the right."

Cecil quickly ran down the left fork. Randal and Nora swiftly moved down the right. Minutes later Cecil suddenly appeared next to them. "Wow, Josh was busy," he told them.

"What did you find?" Nora asked him.

"Found a deep hole at the end. Also found some pretty angry vampire screaming for the mutt's blood."

Nora sighed in relief, "At least we know he was alive enough to trap them in that hole."

Randal agreed, "Let's hope he's not to far ahead."

Coming to the end of the gulley, Nora stopped. It opened up to another forest. Randal took the lead. He led them to a small clearing. Randal searched the area, Nora saw him looking up at a tree. As she looked up and saw something very curious. Large splinters of wood was embedded in the tree's trunk.

"I think one of my brethren was here," Randal said.

"How do you know?" Nora asked.

Randal picked up an old iron trap chained to the tree. On it Nora saw white snow, but there were black specks of ash mixed with it.

"Looks like an ex-vampire to me," Cecil said.

Randal threw the trap down and pointed to the ground. "Something happened here, not to long ago. I see traces of a fight, and there was blood on that trap, as well as on the ground."

"Josh's blood?" Nora worriedly gasped.

"No," Randal assured her. Taking in a deep breath he said, "Smells like a dog, then again." He searched the ground, he saw two sets of faint footprints in the snow heading north.

"I see two human footprints." He pointed to the north, "Let's go, Josh is not far away."

Josh stomped through the fallen snow. It had grown deeper in the past ten minutes. Just as he was about to ask Deanna how much further to her cottage, she pointed ahead.

"There she is," Deanna sighed. "Home sweet home, she lies just past that line of trees."

Josh squinted his eyes, the snow fall was so heavy now he could barely see a foot ahead. As he moved forward he stopped. Was it the wind? He could swear he heard his name called. He was about to look back when Deanna jerked him forward, her humming grew faster as she pulled him toward a line of ancient trees.

Josh saw her turn her head to look back, he heard a cry behind him. As he tried to look back Deanna was humming as she pulled him past a huge oak tree. Josh shivered, he felt as if he walked through ice water. Deanna's humming suddenly stopped. The snowfall grew lighter until it actually stopped. Looking ahead he blinked his eyes. He saw a large cottage sitting next to a small pond. Next to the cottage grew a giant weeping willow. The tips of its hanging branches were frozen in the ponds water. The light from the cottages windows were warm and inviting.

Josh looked down at the small dog, he shivered in his arms. Faintly he heard Deanna humming. He needed to get the dog into a warm and dry place, as well as the old woman. Quickly he made his way to the cottage.

Trudging through the building snowfall, Nora saw two figures walking ahead. "Is that Josh?" she asked Randal.

Randal squinted his eyes. He could make out two humans, one shorter than the other. Josh seemed to be carrying a medium sized dog.

"Has to be him," Randal said.

"JOSH!" Nora shouted, as she tried to walk faster in the snow. It was up to her calves here. She was having a hard time moving through it.

"I'll get him," Cecil declared.

He willed himself to where he saw Josh. Just before he reached him, humming filled his head. An old woman glanced back at him, her gray stringy hair stuck out from the shawl that covered her head. He saw her eyes glow a bright red, her humming grew louder. Then he felt as if he was kicked in the gut, he was flung back into the trees.

Nora and Randal could see Josh ahead, an old woman was walking next to him. As they saw Cecil appear close to them, they could hear a humming sound. It became so loud they had to cover their ears. In a flash they were both flung back, hitting the ground hard they were knocked unconscious.

Deanna opened the door to the cottage. Josh was immediately overwhelmed with the scent of flowers, and something cooking within. Stepping inside he saw it was huge. The first room he was led into was a sitting room. Couches were sprinkled about, an open fireplace sat to the left. A warm blaze crackled lively. The kitchen was located ahead.

Deanna led Josh to an old wooden staircase on the right. They walked up it to the second floor of the cottage. Deanna brought him to a small room to his right.

"Place him there," she told Josh. She pulled an old quilt off the bed. Josh placed Fidele on the bed. Fidele licked his hand.

"That's his way of saying thanks," Deanna explained.

Josh quickly shrugged his coat off. Deanna stood next to the bed, staring sadly at Fidele. "I think, I can fix him," Josh said. "I've been to med school. I was going to become a doctor. I hope what I know applies to dogs as well."

Kneeling next to the bed he gingerly took the dogs leg.

"I think I can fix this."

"Lucky for us, eh Fidele?" Deanna said with a wink.

Josh shrugged his shoulders as he pulled off his sweater. "Let me take a look at him."

Josh examined the wound, he was happy to find that nothing was broken, it was just torn skin. "It's not as bad as it looks," he told Deanna. "After a good cleaning, and bandaging he should recover in a few days."

Deanna immediately pulled out a clean white bed sheet. Giving him scissors Josh cut several long strips of bandages as Deanna fetched a bowl of warm soapy water. Ten minutes later Josh had the wound cleaned and bandaged up.

Deanna gently stroked Fidele's head, "I thank ye," she said. "Fidele is my only friend. I can't imagine living without him."

Josh smiled and began to pull on his sweater. "I'm glad I could help, but I have to go now."

"Leaving so soon?" Deanna asked.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But I need to find my…I need to go." He didn't want to involve them with his troubles.

Deanna gently patted Josh's hand, "I sensed that many things weigh heavy in your heart. Your friends, you love them dearly."

"Yes, I do," Josh tiredly sighed.

"Yes," Deanna nodded. "I sensed that, pray, have a nice cup of tea before you go. Just a good old cup of tea, it'll warm your insides before you leave."

Josh still felt the cold in his fingers. He figured he could stay long enough to get something warm in his belly.

"I see in your eyes that you have decided to stay," Deanna softly sung. She slowly spun around and walked out of the room, shouting, "I'll just get you that cup of tea."

As she left the room Josh tiredly rubbed his eyes. The coldness in his fingers had just begun to thaw out. Fidele happily barked at him. Josh helped him get off the bed. He began to limp out of the room and down the stairs. Josh saw Deanna pouring a steaming pot of tea into a cup.

"Sit," Deanna urged him. She pointed to a chair next to a small wooden table by the fireplace. "Sit Josh, this tea is no good cold."

Sitting down Deanna placed the tea on the table in front of Josh. Josh closed his eyes and breathed in, the tea did smell delicious. She placed a small bowl of sugar cubes next to the tea. Putting one cube in his tea, Josh took a sip. He could feel the warm tea moving down his chest and into his stomach. "Mmm," he hummed. "This is good, what is it?"

Deanna sat opposite of Josh. Grinning wide at him, he noticed there was not a tooth in her mouth. "My own special brew," she proudly declared. "Drink up, you're going to feel much better." She softly began to hum a song.

Taking another sip, Josh found she was right. The tea was soothing, and warmed his heart. The song she was humming flowed through the small room. His eyes drooping, he suddenly felt very tired. Holding the cup tightly in his hand his eyelids began to feel heavy. He tightly clenched the cup in his hands. Deanna's humming grew louder, all he could hear was her humming. Just as he finished the cup of tea, her hand slowly reached out. Josh felt something cold on his wrist. Hearing a snap, he brought his hand up. He was wearing a silver bracelet. On it was carved a wolf and a man.

"Now wolf," Deanna snarled. "That tea you just drank is going to make you answer my questions truthfully."

Josh wanted to say no, wanted to ask her why she put a bracelet around his wrist. Instead he found himself saying, "Yes."

Once she knew Josh was under her spell, Deanna sighed in relief. "Time to shed our disguises." Josh felt a shift in the room. It suddenly grew ice cold. Looking around Josh saw the entire house change. The couches were no longer new, they were old and thread bare. The stairs he climbed up now looked frighteningly unstable and rotted. He saw the fireplace's inviting flames blazing angrily towards him. The warmness of the cottage was gone, replaced by something cold and sinister. Josh instantly shot up, knocking back his chair.

"What the hell are you, where am I?" he shouted, the fear choking him.

Fidele too changed. Josh was shocked to see his body morph into a small, dark haired boy. He appeared to be no more than ten years old. The bandage he put on the dog was on the boy's leg. Fidele looked up at Deanna, "You promised not to hurt him."

"Hush now, I made no such promise," Deanna quickly answered back. "The other vampires, they said Mother wanted him. I need to know why." She gently patted Fidele on the head. "Now be quiet and let me get my answers before the spell wears off."

Deanna's boney finger pointed at Josh. "Wolf, you will tell me everything I want to know."

"What are you?" he demanded.

She spread out her arms, "Isn't it obvious? I'm a witch."

"A…witch?" Josh carefully eyed her.

Deanna laughed, "You've seen Vampires, and ghosts, and you question the existence of witches?"

"It's just…." Josh began to say, before Deanna cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"This is a discussion that we can continue later. Now tell me, Wolf," Deanna demanded in a calmer tone. "Why were you in the forest?" Josh pursed his lips, he tried to keep from talking, but the spell she put on him was to strong. He blurted out, "My curse, I wanted to end it. I failed, but I saw a chance to help Nora."

"Who is Nora?" Deanna asked. "Is she helping Mother?"

"NO!" Josh shot back. "She's the woman I love. It's because of me that she was also cursed."

Deanna licked her dry lips, "I can taste the hate and anger you have inside you from here."

"The wolf, it ruined my life, those that I love. I hate it, I hate the wolf I wish it was…"

Deanna saw Josh fighting off the effects of her spell with his anger. She hummed her spell louder. When she saw the tenseness in his shoulders drop, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"You are stronger than I thought, wolf. Not many can break my spells so soon. Now tell me, why were the vampires after you?"

"Mother's orders," Josh droned.

Deanna shook her head, "What is that vampire up to now?"

"Aidan," Josh quickly replied, cursing himself for answering.

"Aidan," Fidele hissed. "He knows Aidan."

"Yes, it appears so," Deanna mumbled. "How do you know Aidan?" she asked Josh.

Josh fought to keep from telling her. But the spell seemed to take over his will. He quickly replied, "He's my best friend."

Deanna shook her head, "I never thought I'd see a vampire become friends with a wolf. These times are strange indeed. What trouble has Aidan gotten himself into with Mother?"

"He tried to start a coup against her. I don't know how she found out. But she grounded him tonight."  
"Typical," Deanna said. "First her daughter, and now Aidan. But with Aidan grounded why was she so anxious to get her claws into you?"

"She…she needs to feed," Josh gasped.

"Feed," Deanna laughed. "On you? No, you're wrong, she can not do that. A wolf's blood is like poison to a vampire. I should know, I put that curse on them myself. Nothing can break that spell."

"She can, she does," Josh said. "It's her special secret, Mother's secret, mustn't tell, no one must know. All wolfs will be in danger if they knew. I have to keep it a secret." Josh's hands shook, he fisted them so tight his knuckles turned white. He could not, would not tell her this terrible secret.

Deanna saw Josh's brow furrow with determination, she hummed louder, stronger. The furrow disappeared as his resistance fell away.

"Wolf," Deanna demanded. "Does Mother want to keep you from telling her secret?"

Josh shook his head, "She no longer remembers that I know."

"How is that possible?'

"The…the spirits in The Carroll," Josh replied. "They took that memory from her."

"The Carroll?" Deanna said. "What is 'The Carroll'?"

"It's an abandoned building."

"Abandoned buildings, enough silliness." She tightly clenched her fist, "Tell me more of Mother's secret."

"M…m…mother," Josh stuttered. "Her power her strength, it is not hers. She steals it, she takes it from…" Josh clamped his hands over his mouth, he tried to stop the words from coming out, but it did not work. He felt his hands betray him, moving down he said. "She gets her power from drinking a wolf." Josh was panting hard, he couldn't believe he had just told this witch his darkest secret.

Deanna shook her head, "You said that before, how is it possible? Drinking from a wolf would burn her from the inside."

"She found a way, she drinks a wolf's…a wolf's blood between changes. Not a wolf, not a man, when they are both, then she can safely drink their blood. She receives the power of the change."

"Does anyone else know her secret?"

Josh fought harder to keep from telling her. But she hummed louder, her voice her song broke down his barriers of resistance. "Aidan," Josh blurted out. "Sally, Randal and Cecil, we told no one else, not even Nora knows."

"Randal" Deanna angrily hissed. "That vampire holds many secrets."

A large grin parted Fidele's lips, "I like Randal, he was good to me, and the wolves."

"Hush," Deanna scolded the small boy. "Wolf, who is Sally and Cecil?"

"Ghosts," Josh quickly replied. "Friends, they swore to never tell her secret."

Deanna bolted up. "After all these years," she snarled. "All this time I hid from her, and wondered how she was able to stay so strong, so powerful for so long."

Deanna tiredly sat back down, she stared at Josh. "Tell me, if Mother is not aware that you know her secret, why does she want you so bad?"

"Mother needs a werewolf that has become rare. Her greatest power comes from a wolf who's human hates him." Josh's brows knit in anger, "I hate my wolf with all my heart. He ruined my life, cursed my girlfriend, and killed my fiancé."

Deanna stared at Josh, "If what you say is true, then you are a gift to me," she sighed. "All these years in hiding, and you just drop into my lap."

Standing up Deanna slowly walked towards Josh. He began to back up until he hit a wall. Her long fingers reached out, she gently stroked them on Josh's forehead. "Yessss," she sighed. "I can feel your pain, your agony, your hate for your wolf."

Deanna stared deep into his eyes. She looked into his memories, she saw a world that was foreign, alien to her. Josh's chin tiredly fell to his chest, he was panting hard. Never had he felt so tired. It was all he could do to fight off her spell.

Deanna dropped her hands, she slowly nodded her head, she barely whispered, "Fidele, I have seen the outside world through his eyes. So much has passed us by. We have hidden away from Mother for to long, the world that we knew has long died."

She stumbled back, "So tired," she panted. "It has been so long, so long." She stumbled back to the fireplace. "You will help me move through your modern world, unnoticed." She placed her hand over her heart, "But I also will need you to watch after me." Deanna shook her head, "A witch pays a price for using magic, even a powerful one."

Josh could swear she actually looked older, if it was possible. She slowly moved to the fireplace. Her old bones cracked loudly. Opening a small silver box, her wizened hands pulled out another silver bracelet. On this one Josh could see a moon etched deeply in the shiny metal.

"I am old, wolf, older than Mother, older than I should be. But I had to live, I needed to live long enough to have a hand in ending Mother's reign. I will be needing your help, but I now realize that, that will be a difficult task to ask of you. Twice now you have fought my spells. When I was young, all I had to do was ask a wolf to help me, and they would not refuse."

Deanna sadly shook her head. "Those times are long gone. I need a way to control your wolf, and you as well without having to renew my spells. Your world may be different from mine, but old magic still works just as well as it did in my time. Your will is strong, but the spell on the bracelets are stronger. You see, a full coven enchanted them. Nothing can break their spell over you, even when you change, the bracelet will change with you. Once I place this on you, your will as well as your wolf, will be mine to command."

Deanna quickly snapped the moon bracelet on her wrist. She looked up at Josh. "Your former life is gone wolf. It is now mine."


	5. A Friend in War

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Five

A Friend in War

As soon as Deanna snapped the bracelet on her wrist, Josh felt the silver bracelet turn ice cold. He was shocked to see a moon appear above the human etched on the bracelet.

"Stay away from me," he shouted at Deanna, as he slowly began to edge towards the cabin door, "I'm not answering anymore questions, I'm leaving."

Josh noticed that Deanna didn't even try to stop him. She wearily smiled as she held the arm up that wore the bracelet, "No, I don't think so. You will stay in this cottage, until I say you can leave."

Josh spun around and ran to the door that led outside. Grabbing the knob, he tried to turn it, but his hand just would not obey. It would not twist the knob. Spinning around he saw her slowly step closer to him.

"You need to know," Deanna said in a deadly voice. "That there were things on this earth that were more powerful than Vampires, werewolf's and ghosts."

She stared straight into Josh's eyes, he felt as if her hand reached into his chest and was clutching his soul. "There are more horrible things on this world than are dreamt of in your worst nightmares."

"What do you want from me?" Josh demanded. "If you are a witch, what can I possibly do for you?"

"Ah," Deanna said. "I will let you in on another great secret. After a witch uses her magic, well, we pay a heavy price. Our magic comes from within, for a time we are drained. We need to rest and regain our power, in that time we are vulnerable. Fidele here has filled the task alone. But now, with this new information that you have given me, I'll be needing you to help him when I finally end this war with Mother."

"What if I don't want to help you?" Josh shouted. He was angry at being pulled into another battle between supernatural beings.

"You dare to shout at me? I tire of your insolence!" Deanna held her arm up and declared, "Wake up and shed your human shell."

Josh felt a pain, a pain that was all too familiar to him, it frightened him because it was to early, it was not time. Feeling the bracelet turn warm, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The moon was moving on the bracelet, moving away from the human and towards the wolf. Josh screamed in agony as he felt the bones on his back begin to crack and shift.

"No," he shouted. "This can't be happening, the moon isn't full yet, its at least a week away."

"You needed a lesson…," Deanna hissed. "…a lesson in obedience. Come my pet, come and meet your new mistress."

Josh shook his head in denial, but it was happening. Turning, he quickly took his clothes off, seconds later the wolf now stood in the cottage. His full chest heaved with each deep breath. His dark eyes searched the cottage. He looked down and growled at the silver bracelet locked around his leg.

"My friend," Deanna sung, as she stepped forward. "Your mistress welcomes you here."

The wolf stood his ground as Deanna approached him. Fidele quickly changed into the small dog. He approached the wolf, it growled and snapped at Fidele.

"NO!" Deanna said in a commanding voice. "You are never to harm him."

Immediately the wolf's head hung low in submission. Fidele happily pranced to the wolf. They touched noses, Fidele rubbed his muzzle on the wolfs. Reaching the wolf, Deanna gently petted his head. "There, there, I don't know why your human hates you so, you are magnificent."

She moved down his body, her boney fingers stroked his back. "I can feel great strength, great power from you. You will serve me well. I shall give you a name, from now on you will be called, Hadwin." She leaned over and hugged his neck, "It is an ancient name, it means, 'Friend in war'." A content rumble vibrated in the wolfs throat. Deanna whispered into the wolf's ear, "I know you can hear me, Josh. Let this serve as a warning, you are mine, body and soul."

Slowly stepping back, Deanna declared, "Leave me Hadwin, I will call you back when I need you." The wolf howled in agony, standing up its body twisted and turned. In minutes Josh was squatting naked on the floor. Glancing at the bracelet he saw the moon once again above the human. Keeping his back to Deanna he grabbed his clothes and quickly dressed.

Once he was dressed he faced Deanna. She saw a look in his eyes, it was shame, astonishment and anger. She did not flush the anger fully out of him, but he now knew the full extent of the power she had over him.

"You needed to know the full power of the bracelet," Deanna told him. "It can control you and Hadwin. But as you just found out, there is more. You are now aware of what happens after you change, but can do nothing but be an observer. No longer will you fight me, or I will turn your world upside down. I will make Hadwin stay, it will be you that appears one night a month. Would you like that?"

Josh slowly shook his head, "Please don't."

"Good," Deanna said. "Give me your word that you will no longer be thinking of escaping to help your Nora or Aidan."

Josh gulped hard, it wasn't long, but he would never forget what it was like to be trapped in the wolfs body. To hear and know what was going on and not be able to do anything, he'd never felt so helpless. Holding his chin up high he stared into Deanna's eyes. "I give you my word."

Deanna accepted his pledge. "I could tell from the moment I met you that you are a man of your word. You will put the world you knew behind, what you are going to do now is guide me through your modern world, help me destroy Mother."

"My friends," Josh softly said, "They'll be looking for me."

"I know," Deanna said. "I felt their compassion for you, but they will never find you. No one can enter this cottage without my spell." Deanna wickedly laughed. "Face it, wolf, you are mine. Or your body is, I control it now, I control both of you."

"You said you're a witch," Josh said. "Then you do black magic?"

Josh immediately knew he asked the wrong question when Deanna suddenly became enraged, Fidele quickly hid under the table. "Black magic? Do you think I am evil? You have no idea what I could do to you if I was truly evil," she angrily snarled. "Listen Wolf, I can see that you are judging me by how the world has portrayed us. They made us out to be ugly old crones that hide in the forest waiting for children to come by so we can eat them."

She angrily spat on the ground. "Stories, fairy tales created by humans jealous of our magic. Something goes wrong in a village, of course you blame the witch, she's evil." In Josh's eyes she seemed to grow larger as her anger grew stronger. "My sisters were prosecuted, tortured and executed because of your ignorance. The blessed goddess that gave us our magic taught us that when using magic for dark purposes it will come back to you, much darker and more powerful. Why in my time, when I was young we could, we could…"

Deanna stared at Josh, his eyes were wide in fright, this was not what she intended to do. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to drive the anger that raged inside of her away. His idea of a witch came from books written by frightened men. She would soon set him straight on what a witch really was. For now, she had much to do. She now had with her someone that Mother wanted, it was a good start.

Deanna shook her head, "No wolf, I am not an evil witch, I don't do black magic. I am a daughter of the Goddess of the moon. There was a time when your kind would feel honored to serve my coven. Unfortunately, that time has died so very long ago, as has my sisters. As you can see I'm alone, and old…older than you could imagine. You are young and strong. I do not like using the bracelets, it pains me to use them just as much as it does you, but…" She felt a weakness flush through her, she had used too much magic. "You fight me at every turn, it had to be done. We are bound now wolf, bound until death. For only death will take this bracelet off."

Fidele ran to Deanna. He anxiously jumped up and down. "Can I play with him Deanna, please may I play with him?"

Deanna gently petted his head, "Calm down Fidele, I need time to rest, and think. This wolf has given me much to think about. It has been many years since I've used that much magic, many years." She wearily pointed to Josh. "Sit on that chair and don't move until I tell you to do so," she ordered him.

Josh was shocked to find he had to obey her. He moved to a large chair and promptly sat down. Deanna wearily moved to the fireplace. She sat down on a large rocking chair close to the fireplace. Pulling her shawl tighter, she began to rock. Staring deep into the flames of the fire, she rolled over in her mind what Josh had told her.

Fidele knew better than to talk to Deanna right now. She needed to rest, he spun around and ran to Josh. He sat on the floor in front of him and stared curiously at him.

Josh struggled to stand up, but it felt as if he was glued to the chair. Giving up, he saw the small boy staring at him. "W…what are you? You're not a werewolf."

Fidele shook his head, he pointed to his chest, "Me, I'm a Pooka."

"Pooka?" Josh muttered, "Wait, I think I've heard that name before. Yes, in an old movie."

"Harvey," Fidele said, as he spat on the floor. "I hate that movie, gave all us Pooka's a bad name. I am not a giant rabbit. We are a noble race."

"Then you change into a dog?" Josh asked him. He saw Deanna sitting by the fire, staring at the flames. She said the bracelet can only be removed by death, he wondered if it his or hers?

Fidele held his knees and rocked back and forth laughing. "A dog? You don't know anything about Pooka's do you."

"Sorry, can you give me the cliff notes version of a Pooka?"

Getting a stunned look he said, "What's a Pooka?"

In an instant Josh saw a wolf standing before him, then a deer and a large raven. A small horse whinnied at him. In all his changes Josh noticed that his eyes were always purple, and the collar he wore changed with him.

Changing back to the boy, Fidele proudly stood before Josh. "See, I'm better than a werewolf. We Pooka's were the first shape shifters, you might say you're a distant cousin."

As Josh listened to the boy chatter on, he wondered, was Deanna's hold on him total? If she ordered him to die, would he do it?

Deanna rocked back and forth, she had never felt this weak before. She closed her eyes, she needed to hold on just a little longer, she was so close. She sneezed, the stench of vampires and ghosts was strong on this wolf. She now knew that Mother thinks he is special, but there had to be more. She just needed to think. She looked up at twelve carved wooden figures on the mantelpiece.

The eyes were closed on six of them, the other's eyes were fully open. "Almost done, my sisters, soon…," she whispered "Soon, I will revenge your deaths, I will be her shadow no more!"

Randal opened his eyes, sitting up he rubbed the back of his head. He saw Nora lying next to him. Cecil was standing over him

"It's about time," Cecil said. "Holy mackerel sapphire, the both of you have been unconscious for nearly half an hour."

"Nora," Randal said, as he nudged her. "Wake up."  
"JOSH!" Nora shouted, as she sat up. She had no idea what happened. One moment she was running towards Josh the next she woke up covered in snow. Getting up she ran to where she last saw Josh. Just as he reached the trees she nearly stumbled. She couldn't believe her eyes. She could see Josh's footprints in the snow, but they just stopped at the line of trees that circled a large grove.

"Randal?" Nora gasped in alarm. "What the hell happened?"

Randal just couldn't believe what he saw. One second Josh was there, the next he was gone. "What happened?" Randal asked Cecil.

"I don't know," Cecil honestly answered. "I caught up with them. Josh was carrying a small dog in his arms, there was an old woman next to him. She looked back at me." Cecil shook his head, "I heard her humming, next think I know, I'm flung back into those trees. Josh was gone and I found you guys lying on the ground. I tried shouting, but I just couldn't wake you up."

Randal quickly stared into Cecil's eyes, "The dog, Cecil. You mentioned a dog, tell me, what color were the dog's eyes?"

Cecil scratched his head, "Now that's funny, I didn't notice until you asked. They were purple. The brightest purple I ever saw."

"Nora," Randal said. "Josh is in great danger."

"Then you know what happened to him?" Nora said.

Randal ran towards the trees, passing them he felt a tingling, but everything around him stayed the same. "Yes," Randal said. "I've seen this happen before. Josh is with a very dangerous woman. Her name is Deanna, and she's a witch."

Nora stared laughing, "A witch, are you serious?"

Randal turned around and gave her a look that made Nora choke back her laughter. "You've seen ghosts and vampires," Randal said. "You yourself have been cursed into being a werewolf and you laugh at the idea of the existence of witches?"

"I'm sorry," Nora said. "I'm new at all this. Please forgive me, I only want to help Josh."

Randal could see she was truly sorry. "It's all right, I fear for him too. You see he's become something rare in my life, he's my friend. There are very few, so I guard them with my life."

Randal let out a heavy sigh. "Deanna is not just any witch, she is the last of her kind. Mother has been chasing her for thousands of years." He turned and stared at the frozen pond. He knew somewhere out there, hidden by Deanna's magic was Josh.

"Mother has had a vendetta against Deanna's kind for some time now. She managed to kill them all but Deanna. She was the most powerful of all of them. She's managed to stay hidden for thousands of years. Got Mother so mad she even had me hunting for her. Mother calls her, 'Her Shadow'. She pops up from time to time, to cause trouble for Mother. I've stumbled on some of her rampages, she really hates vampires. The shape she left them in, well I've woken up many nights seeing them in my nightmares. Once she's killed, she's gone again, sometimes for decades before she shows up. But this time, this time it's different." Randal stared out, he tried to focus on the pond. Hoping that he would be able to see a cottage, or shack sitting next to it.

"What's different?" Nora asked him.

"There's been no word from her in almost fifty years. That's to long even for her. And she brought Josh with her, not many have the honor of saying they stood in her cottage and survived."

"How many do you know of have been in her cottage?" Nora asked him.

"Only one, and that would be me."

Nora stared at him, "What happened, why didn't she kill you?"

Randal chuckled, "Nora when we get Josh back, that's a story I think you would love to hear."

"Me too," Cecil said.

"Look, if she wanted to kill Josh she would have done it already. Taking him into her cottage means she wants him for something." His eyes darting to the side, he softly said, "And I think I may know what that something is."

"Why, Randal?" Nora asked. "Why do you think she took Josh?"

Taking in a deep breath, Randal made a decision to tell her. "This is something that we promised not to tell anyone. But I think you should know." Randal then told her everything. How he met Josh, Mother's secret, and what happened in The Carroll.

Nora nervously smiled, "Wow, that's….that's a lot to take in."

"Yes," Randal said. "And you must promise not to tell another soul. We realized that if the other vampires knew Mother's secret, all werewolves would be in danger." Randal began to nervously pace. "If she manages to get Josh to tell her Mother's secret, she's going to want to use it to get back at her. She's going to have to keep him alive. She's a creature of the past, she'd stick out like a sore thumb in the modern world. I'm hoping that she recognizes this, and will use Josh to help her move unnoticed in our world. The one advantage we have over Deanna is that she's never accepted the modern world. She knows nothing of our technology. Wait a minute…" Randal said, with a snap of his fingers. "She doesn't know our technology!"

Both Cecil and Nora gave him a confused look as Randal pulled out his iphone. His fingers swiftly skated on the screen.

"After Mother captured Josh, he didn't want it to happen again. With me busy at The Carroll we both installed an app on our iphone's that allows us to keep track of each other."

Randal stared into his iphone. "Let's hope we're close to a cell tower," he whispered. Getting a local map on his screen he waited for his dot to appear. When it did, he asked the app to find Josh. He didn't know if ancient magic would be able to keep modern technology away, but it was worth a try.

The seconds it took seemed like hours. Cecil and Nora huddled close to Randal, they all stared at the screen. Randal breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a small dot begin to blink on the screen.

"That my friends," Randal said with a sigh of relief. "Is why I LOVE modern technology." He kissed the back of the phone, "Thank the day the two Steve's got together."

Checking the screen, he began to walk towards the pond. His dot now began to move towards the blinking dot. Minutes later he stopped. Nora bumped into him, Cecil just passed through him.

"What's wrong?" Nora asked him.

"Nothing," Randal said. "We just happen to be standing right on top of him."


	6. Going to a Dark Place

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Six

Going to a Dark Place

Randal pointed to the screen of the iphone, there was now just one dot. It was stable and blinking at the same time.

"That's Josh, I'm relieved to see its working here. I've been trying to get in touch with him all night."

"Josh," Nora shouted, as she spun around. "Can you hear us?"

Randal stopped her from spinning, "Sorry, I don't think he can. Deanna has him in a different place, here, yet not here. At least we know he's alive, or his cell phone is." He patted the iphone. "Now we have a way to track him, we'll know when Deanna is on the move."

Nora touched the iphone's jack opening. "His phone won't stay charged forever."

Randal winked at her, "Josh is smart, we may loose him at times, but I'd bet The Carroll that he'll find some way to contact us."

Nora stared at the blinking dot. Randal said Josh was here, right here in this spot. "I wish there was some way we can talk to him, let him know we're close by and haven't given up on him."

Randal smiled at her, "I think I have a way to let him know."

Randal opened up a new program, in seconds he gently smiled. "I just gave him a sign of hope."

He placed the phone on Nora's arm. She felt it gently vibrating. She realized it was vibrating to a certain song. Smiling she said, "Is that what I think it is?

Randal grinned widely, "Yes, he knows Nora, he knows we're here."

Nora smiled her thanks at Randal, he looked up into the night sky. "This weather is not getting any better." He looked at Nora with concern, "You may be a werewolf, but you're human right now. That means you can catch a cold or freeze to death. I think we should find a warm place to stay."

Nora was about to protest, until Randal cut her off. "It's no use staying here, Deanna could walk right past us without us even knowing. Once they start moving, we have a way to track them."

For now, Nora would have to put her trust in him. Closing her eyes, she whispered, "Josh, we haven't given up on you. We will find you."

Spinning around she rushed away, she felt so helpless there. Knowing she was so close to Josh, yet so far. Randal quickly caught up with her. He addressed the concerned ghost walking next to him. "Cecil, I want you to go to Sally's house. You need to tell her everything that's happened to Aidan and Josh. Once you tell her, go to Aidan. Let him know we are doing everything we can to get him out of there. Then bring Sally to us, we'll be…I'm really not sure where we'll be."

"Don't worry," Cecil said. "I'll just tune into you, I'm off."

Once he blinked out, Randal took the lead, taking Nora back to his car.

As they drove on the snow covered streets, Randal took in a deep breath. Two close friends were in deep trouble. He couldn't believe Mother had grounded Aidan.

Staring ahead, Randal recalled what happened earlier that night…

Mother quickly left where she buried Aidan. Her eyes planted on the ground she did not see a large figure moving through the trees. Randal stared out at the fresh mound of dirt. Four Vampires were left to guard the grave. Slowly a man began to appear next to Randal.

Randal pointed ahead, "Think you can get to Aidan with out them finding out?" Cecil grinned widely, "Piece of cake."

Moving into the ground he made his way to Aidan's coffin. He wasn't sure which coffin Aidan was buried in. Reaching a coffin, he called his name, getting no answer he would go to the next. He finally found Aidan in the sixth coffin. Calling his name he heard Aidan's reply.

His hands moved through the coffin's lid. Slowly he moved inside. The coffin was pitch black, he could hear Aidan's breathing.

"Aidan, it's me, Cecil," he whispered.

"Is Randal with you?" Aidan quickly asked. He pressed a small button on his wristwatch. An eerie green glow lit up the coffin, Aidan sighed in relief when he saw Cecil's face at the top of the coffin.

"Yes," Cecil said, as the light went out. "We got here as soon as we could."

"Cecil," Aidan panted. "Mother, she sent someone to hunt Josh. You have to warn him."

"We already know," Cecil said. "Randal said he's sorry. Mother asked him to look for Josh first, but he was resting at the Carroll. We tried to call him, but he wouldn't answer. Randal wanted me to let you know we're going to look for him and tell him that Mother's hunting him."

"He's at a cabin in the woods, he's going to kill Ray, the man that cursed him."

"Why would he do that?" Cecil said.

"He thinks if he kills him, he'll become human again. That cabin, it's….it's…, I can't remember."

"Don't worry." Cecil could hear the panic in his voice. He couldn't imagine what it was like to be trapped in this darkness. He tried to calm his concern for Josh. "We'll find him, Randal is keeping in touch with the other vampires looking for him."

Cecil waited for Aidan to say something, all he could hear was his breathing. "Aidan," he softly said. "I'm sorry, Mother left four vampires to guard your grave. Randal can't even get close to your…"

"Don't worry about me," Aidan said. "Go, warn Josh." He slammed his fist on the coffin's lid. "It's all my fault she's after him. You need to find him, Cecil. Promise me that."

"Don't worry," Cecil assured him. "Randal will find him. And I promise that you won't be alone for long." Even though he was in the darkness of the coffin for a few minutes, Cecil was already feeling panicked. "I'll be back to visit you and let you know what's going on."

Aidan let his head rest on the pillow of his coffin. He was going crazy thinking of what Mother would do to Josh. Now that he knew Randal was here, his fears died away.

"I'll be waiting here when you return," Aidan joked. "Now get out of here."

"I'm off, take care Aidan. I will be back soon, I hope with good news."

Aidan wanted to scream at him not to go, but he knew he had to. Once he felt his presence leave the coffin the reality of what Mother did hit him like a ton of bricks. He was truly alone now. The darkness of the coffin weighed heavy on him. Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep, that would help him pass the time if…no WHEN Cecil returned. He had to believe this, for the other was to horrible to even think about.

Josh tried once again to release himself from the chair, but the command Deanna gave him still held. His body refused to listen to him. He let out a tired sigh as Fidele babbled on about his life, and Deanna's life. He glanced back at Deanna. She looked to be in some kind of trance. Her eyes were glued to the flames of the fireplace.

Josh stared out the window of the cabin, he could see it was snowing harder. It all seemed hopeless. He still had a hard time believing that a real live witch had total control of his body. He shook with the memory of the transformation. Being conscious in the wolf frightened him to his core. He was aware of everything, yet could not do anything. He wondered if the same happened to the wolf when he changed. Then he felt it, a vibration where his iphone sat in his pants pocket. It had been vibrating all night, but after all that went on that night, he just didn't have time to see who was calling.

As it continued to vibrate a small grin graced his face, this one was special. It vibrated in a certain rhythm. He could feel it vibrating to the song, _'Who's afraid of the big bad wolf'_. Josh immediately knew it was Randal. It was their private joke. He was here, and he knew where Randal was, Cecil wasn't far behind. That also meant they were there to help Nora. He now had a sliver of hope that all was not lost. He didn't know what Mother's plans were, but at least he knew that his friends were close by.

Sally screamed in pain as she tore at her stomach, ripping it apart the last thing she saw was her mother staring at her in horror. Her world turned black, the pain from ripping herself began to fade. Soon the darkness began to brighten, she blinked her eyes, she was in her house. She was back in her house.

"Damn!" she shouted. "It didn't work."

She kicked at the couch in frustration, she then got the shock of her unlife. That hurt! Reaching down she found she could actually feel the couch.

"Okay," she said. "That's new."

Maybe, she thought, ripping herself gave her the ability to feel things. It was then that she noticed something was missing, "Mother!" she shouted.

"She's gone," she heard someone say. Spinning around she saw Nick, standing in archway of the front room. "Nick, you're here?"

"This is where you ripped me," he told her.

"Oh, this is getting good," she heard another voice declare. She immediately knew who it was.

"Danny," she hissed.

"Yeah, you ripped me here too, remember?" He was standing next to the couch, his grin so large it went from ear to ear.

"Sally, what are you doing here?" Nick asked her.

"Don't ask, enjoy," Danny said.

"I came to help you," she told Nick.

Danny began to laugh, it was small at first but then it bordered on maniacal. "You're going to help us. You put us in here, you bitch!" he angrily spat out.

"I didn't do it," Sally quickly returned. "Scott did."

"Sally," Nick said. "You know Scott was you."

Sally saw a shift in the house, the color of the couch changed to a deep purple. Sally fisted her hands on her head and screamed, "No, you're not coming back. I ripped you out." She felt a wind rush though the house, and the purple was gone.

"Oh god," Nick gasped. "You think they heard her?"

"You stupid bitch," Danny angrily hissed.

"What's wrong?" Sally asked Nick.

"Sally, I told you, here there is pain and agony." He pointed to the windows. "It comes from them."

She saw a thick fog floating in front of the house. Danny actually began to cry, "Why can't they leave us alone?" he sobbed.

Sally saw the fog moving towards them. Nick ran to the door, grabbing the curtain he stuffed it at the bottom of the door. Sally could see wisps of fog working through the hinges and keyhole of the door.

"That never works, why do you keep trying?" Danny shouted. "We need to hide."

Suddenly the house changed, Sally saw it growing bigger. Nick ran to her side, grabbing her hand he screamed, "We got to get out of here before they find us."

He pulled her up the staircase. As she climbed up the staircase grew longer under her feet. Sally looked down, it seemed to go down forever. Their feet pounded on the stairs what seemed like hours, finally they reached the top of the stairs. Sally saw the hallway begin to split until there were multiply ones. They then began to stretch longer for what looked like miles, hundreds of doors appeared. Danny ran down a hallway to the left. Nick choose one on the right.

"We got to get away from them," he told Sally. "We can't let them get us." Looking at Sally he cried, "I can't take that pain anymore."

He pulled Sally past many doors. They were all different looks, and colors. Stopping at a pink door he pulled her into a room that was filled with dolls, hundreds and hundreds of dolls. Some were covered in dust and cobwebs, other's were sparkling new. Nick pulled her to a corner. They waited in silence.

Sally slapped her hand over her mouth when she heard Danny faintly screaming. It was somewhere in the house. Whatever was in there found him. Nick was rocking back and forth, whispering, "Please don't find us, please don't find us."

Sally stared at the door, she froze when she saw small wisps of fog snaking under the door. Nick scrambled to the other side of the room. He clawed at the dolls, throwing them at the fog. Sally saw the fog began to change into creatures she could not have imagined in her worst nightmares. To her they appeared to be two red eyes with claws. Several of them ran to Nick, the others lunged at her.

She was thrown back as the creatures landed on her. She lay on the floor and heard someone screaming. It was a scream that tore at her soul, it was so sad, so heart rending. She soon realized it was her screaming. The creatures tore into her, she could feel them ripping into every muscle, every nerve every cell of her body. She screamed for it to stop, but it just grew worse.

She heard voices coming from the creatures. "You killed my boyfriend…Sally, what are you doing?...I'm your friend, not them…I can stop."

Hearing the voices, the reality of what she did was more painful than the creatures tearing into her. She tried to scream louder, to block out the voices but it would not work. The attack seemed to last for hours…days. Then they suddenly stopped. The creatures, they thankfully, blessedly stopped.

Sally looked up, the creatures were gone. She realized she was back in the front room of her home. Sitting up she could see her body and clothes ripped to shreds. She dropped her head forward, trying to block out the pain. Glancing to the side, she saw Nick lying on the floor, covered in blood.

"I'm…sorry," she panted. Closing her eyes in shame she said, "I am so sorry."

As she sat there, waiting for the pain to go away she could swear she heard someone calling her name. It was not Nick, or Danny. Looking up she faintly saw someone running through the house. He would blink out, then faintly appear again. As he passed by her, she recognized him.

"Cecil," she sobbed. She jumped up, waving her hands in the air, but afraid to shout. She didn't want the creatures to hear her. "I'm here, can't you see me, I'm here." But he did not hear her, he passed right through her as he searched the house.

Cecil moved through the entire house, but he could not find Sally. Stopping in the front room, he shouted her name one more time. "Sally, Aidan and Josh are in trouble, where the hell are you?" Getting no response he decided to leave. He needed to let Aidan know what happened to Josh, and then return to Randal.

Tears flowed down Sally's cheeks as she watched the faint figure of Cecil leave the house. "Aidan, Josh, they're in trouble, and I'm stuck here."

Nick slowly sat up, "He a friend of yours?"

"Yes," Sally softly said. "I just met him." Sally held her stomach, she could feel the wounds closing. She saw the rips in her clothes mending. Minutes later there was not even a bloodstain left on her clothes. Standing up, she saw Danny lying in the fetal position next to the fireplace. Hugging his knees, he was crying like a baby. They all appeared where she had ripped them.

"What were they?" Sally asked Nick.

It was Danny who answered her question. "Rippers," he sobbed. He used his hands to wipe the tears from his face. "They come in here and rip you to shreds over and over again until nothing is left." Danny began to cry again, he hugged his stomach. "They cut into you, mentally… physically." He shook his head. "I don't know how much longer I can take it. Don't know how much longer."  
Sally sat down on the stairs she realized she had made a horrible mistake. She came here to help Nick. How could she be so foolish? She was trapped, trapped in a world where there was no escape. She faced an eternity in pain and agony, and she didn't even have the option of dying to escape.


	7. More Secrets

Being Human: When will My Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Seven

More Secrets

Josh let out a large yawn, the sun was just rising, it was morning. He had not slept a wink all night. Feeling very stiff, he tried for the hundredth time to get out of the chair, but Deanna's command still held. Only she could release him. All night Deanna sat by the fireplace, staring at the flames. Looking back he saw her standing by the fireplace, to her chest she hugged a small burlap bag.

She slowly began walking to the chair. "I've ruminated all night long with what you told me yesterday, wolf." Stopping in front of him she said, "You can leave the chair now."

Grateful Josh stood up, he silently stared down at her, not knowing what to say. She looked up at him. "I've decided that it is time for me to leave this place, and you will be my guide."

"Finally!" Fidele screamed with delight, "Thank you, wolf!" he gushed. He spun around the room, singing, "I got shotgun, I got shotgun."

Deanna didn't waste any time. She was anxious to leave her cottage. She knew Josh's presence and her message to Mother would eventually bring her unwanted attention. Under her command, Josh brought her to his car.

He innocently took out his iphone. He knew he would have to tell her the truth if she asked about the modern device. Before she had the chance he quickly told her that it was needed to start the car. He was grateful she accepted his explanation. He quickly plugged into its dock, making sure to activate the program that would show him where Randal was located.

Late that afternoon Josh was driving down a small country road, the cottage hundred miles behind them. Looking in the rear view mirror Josh saw Deanna sitting in the back seat, Fidele fidgeted next to him. Deanna was quietly staring out at a world that was so alien to her. So much had changed in the time she hid in the forest. "Stop the car," she told Josh.

Pulling to the side, he stopped the car. Deanna stared out of the window, she saw a city so large it took her breath away, the lights of the city shown brightly in the distance. She touched the window, tracing the tall buildings. Josh could see the bracelet she wore gleaming in the sunlight. Until he could figure a way of getting it off her, he had to do whatever she said.

"I've missed so much," Deanna whispered. "My sisters would enjoy seeing this. What a beautiful magical world it turned out to be."

Josh saw her pull out a small-carved figure from the burlap bag. Clutching it to her heart she pointed ahead, "That way," she told Josh.

"Can you at least tell me where I'm going?" Josh asked her. He pointed to the iphone. "This device can tell me how to get there."

Fidele leaned forward and pointed ahead, "We don't need it, she said that way."

"Give me some idea, a town, a city, a state…something."

Deanna pointed ahead, "I do not know what town, city or state. I just know our destination lies ahead."

Josh let out an exasperated sigh as he stared the car. "Fine," he said. "Let's go ahead, that's just the entire world."

Fidele sat back, laughing he said, "I just love road trips."

As Josh was driving on the back roads, Randal and Nora was tracking him. They wanted to keep him far enough ahead not to give themselves away to Deanna. As they drove past a large farm, Nora let out a small scream as Cecil suddenly popped in the back seat.

"Damn it," Nora cursed. "I wish you'd give us some kind of warning before you do that."

"Sorry," Cecil said. "Really not sure how I can pop in, indiscreetly."

"Any news?" Randal asked Cecil.

"Nothing good, times two I'm afraid." he replied.

Nora noticed someone was missing, "Sally, where's Sally?" she asked him.

"That's the 'nothing good' part one. When I got to the apartment Sally wasn't there. I searched the house from top to bottom, no Sally."

"What about part two?" Randal said.

Cecil cleared his throat, "Well you're not going to like it, I couldn't get near him. They have ghosts guarding him as well as the vampires. I snuck into the hotel, spoke to some of the friendlier ghosts there. They said the entire hotel is in an uproar. Mother got news of the vampires killed searching for Josh. If you thought she was mad before she's really angry now that a wolf managed to not only avoid capture, but killed her flunkies in the process. Um, just so you know, I put in the flunky part."

"Say hello to another flunky," Randal said. "I received a phone call from her. I'm now officially on the hunt for Aidan's dog and his doggie girlfriend."

Nora raised her hand, "That would be me."

"Hey," Cecil said. "You're good, you already got doggie girlfriend, now all you need is to do is find 'Aidan's stinkin' mutt', as Mother called him ."

Nora held Randal's iphone up, "Oh, he's found, but for now, untouchable."

Randal tightly gripped the steering wheel, "Deanna is a very powerful witch. She managed to get Josh to bring her to his car. If she has that much control over him, we'll have to figure a way of getting Josh away from her before she can use her magic against us."

"For now," Nora said. "We have to be satisfied with following him."

It was in the middle of the night when Josh pulled his car up to a small shack deep in the woods. Deanna told him this was where they needed to go. The skies were clear that night, the moon would be full in a few days, but Deanna told Josh he didn't have to worry about it. The bracelet allowed her to control him when he changed. Even with a full moon, she could keep him human.

Exiting the car, Josh slowly walked up to the shack. Deanna was ahead of him, she stopped just at the door. The shack was in terrible shape. From the looks of it, Josh guessed there had been a fire here years ago. What was left of the door was covered in a green mold.

"I need to get in," Deanna told Josh.

Getting ahead of her, he grabbed what was left of the door and gently pushed it in. The shack was in such a fragile state he wondered if the door was the only thing keeping it standing. He managed to push it open large enough for Deanna to get inside the shack. Stepping aside, he waited for Deanna to give him another order. She moved close to him.

"Hadwin, you will appear if I am threatened in any way." She looked up at Josh, "I am not to be disturbed for any reason."

"Yes, ma'am," Josh said.

Deanna took in a deep breath. Pulling out a wooden figure, she cradled it in her arms. Josh noticed that the eyes were carved shut on this small figure. Deanna began to walk into the cabin. Josh heard her humming again, he realized this was how she performed her most powerful magic.

Stepping into the shack, Deanna cradled the wooden figure. She hummed louder as she walked through the shack. Josh glanced at his watch, it read 11:45. He began to walk round the shack. He saw Fidele change into a bird and fly out into the forest. Alone, his thoughts turned to figuring out a way of breaking Deanna's spell. As he slowly circled the shack, her humming drifted out into the night.

Walking back to the doorway, he leaned on the frame. He scanned the road, looking for any sign of trouble. He then began to focus on the humming as it grew louder, than softer. Soon it was all he could hear, and feel. Suddenly he felt Deanna tap him on the back. Shaking his head, he moved aside.

He could see she was still cradling the wooden figure, but something was different. Josh realized what it was, its eyes were open. "Let us go," Deanna said. "We are done here."

Glancing at his watch Josh was shocked to see it read 3:28. He was standing there for nearly three hours. It seemed like minutes.

"Come, we have to search for another," she told Josh as she walked towards the car.

Josh ran to catch up with her. "Another what?" Josh said. "How long is this going to take?" Getting no answer, Josh held the bracelet up. "I know you control my body with this thing, that I have to listen to you," Josh said. "But can you control my need to sleep? I'm exhausted, and if I don't get sleep soon we're going to end up in a ditch."

Deanna stopped walking, "I have forgotten, it has been many years since I had a wolf with me." She resumed walking towards the car "I will allow you to sleep when we find a safe hovel to stay."

"A motel," Josh said. "It's called a motel, I can find a safe place to stay long enough for me to rest."

Deanna stopped at the door of the car and stared at Josh. Opening the door for her, she slowly entered the car. Once he slammed the door shut, she pointed to her right. "We go that way." Looking around, she said, "Where is Fidele?"

Josh pointed north, "I saw him fly away."

Deanna sat back in her seat, "Find him, he will not be far."

Josh sprinted towards the shack. As he searched the skies above, he heard a noise coming from behind the shack. Walking around a corner, he was stunned. He absolutely could not speak. There standing in front of him was Aidan.

"Aidan," Josh cried out. "How….how did you get out?"

Aidan just smiled at him and turned to walk away. "Aidan, stop!" Josh shouted. He ran to catch up to him. Grabbing him by the shoulder he spun him around and hugged him. "Aidan, I'm so glad you got out of there."

Stepping back he wiped a tear on his cheek. "How the hell did you find me? You don't know what I've been through."

Giving Josh a wink, Aidan said, "I may have an idea." It was then that Josh saw Aidan's eyes, they were purple, a bright purple..

"Fidele," Josh angrily hissed, as he pushed him away. He didn't even know he could change into a human. Aidan began giggling like a child. Slowly he began to grow shorter, until Fidele stood before him.

"That was so much fun," Fidele laughed. "I haven't done that in years. You should have seen the look on your face."

Furious, Josh turned and began to walk back to the car. "Deanna wants to leave."

Fidele skipped around Josh. "Aw, you're not mad at me are you? Come on, that was a great joke to play on you? It's what we Pooka's do you know, it's in our blood. I can tell that you love a good joke. As you can see Deanna is about as fun as a…" he scratched his head, "I got it, she's about as fun as loosing your iphone."

Josh suddenly stopped, his back stiffened. Fidele was holding his iphone in his hands. "And dude I have to say, you have a really cool iphone. That is until they come out with the next one, what are they up to…5?"

Josh gulped hard, he stared at him in shock as Fidele sung, "I know something Deanna doesn't know." He winked at him, "Here's another secret to add to all your other secrets. The times Deanna goes into her little trances, I've gone out into the world. We Pooka's are free spirits, wanderers. We're never satisfied staying in one place for long."

Fidele held the iphone in his hands. "I marvel at how fast your kind has advanced in the past hundred years. You've come up with some really handy little devices."

He held the iphone up, "I know what this is, and what it can do." He pointed to the blinking dot. "Your friends are close by, I even saw them as I flew over them." He showed Josh a picture on the iphone. "Now from that picture we can tell that the big guy next to the wolf is a vampire, he's not very photogenic."

Josh looked closely at the photo, he saw Nora. "Ah," Fidele sighed. "She's a cute werewolf, is that your girlfriend Nora?"

Josh didn't know what to say, Fidele now knew he was trying to trick Deanna. He saw Fidele doing something to his iphone, turning it around he said, "Ooops, I just deleted your account, what a shame. Now they can't track you anymore."

"Here," he threw the phone to Josh. "Deanna still thinks you need it to start the car, let her keep thinking that."

Fidele's innocent boy look suddenly changed. For the first time Josh saw what a Pooka truly looked like. His eyes turned dark, the mischievousness was no longer there. A creature that looked nothing like a human now stood before him.

"I'll make a deal with you, I won't tell Deanna about the iphone, and you don't tell her I know everything about your 'modern' world, deal?"

Josh stared down at the iphone, "Deal," he whispered.

"Good," Fidele said. He grabbed Josh's arm, "Let's not let this keep us from being friends. I like you Josh, you've stood up to Deanna. Not many do that and live." He nudged him with his hip, "And you can take a good joke. We're going to have lots of fun. Now let's go, we can't keep Deanna waiting for long."

Josh pulled from his grip, "Wait, why do you stay with her? You say Pooka's are wanderers, free spirits, why do you stay with her?"

Fidele rubbed his chin in thought, "Well, that's a good question." Grinning brightly he replied, "Uh, uh, uh, you can't know all the secrets my wolf friend. I'm not telling that secret until I'm ready. You need to prove to me that you deserve to know. But know this, I have and always will protect her with my life." Grinning he pulled his hand. "Now come on, Deanna will be getting anxious."

Skipping around the house, Fidele turned into the playful dog. He pranced and barked at Josh as they walked back to the car. Stopping at a tree he peed on it. He pranced to the car as Josh opened his door. Fidele jumped in, and settled in the back seat with Deanna.

"Where were you off to you scamp," Deanna scolded him.

Fidele morphed into the small boy, "I'm sorry Deanna, I was just playing."

Deanna held him close, "Don't scare me like that, I was worried, let's go," she told Josh.

Settling in the drivers seat Josh placed the now useless iphone in its cradle. Starting the car, he backed away from the shack. His one hope of keeping in touch with his friends was gone. Fidele had knowledge of the modern world, he would have to watch what he did from now on.

Looking ahead, he began to drive in the direction Deanna pointed to earlier. As he drove down the dark road, his thoughts turned to the wooden figures that Deanna brought with her. He knew they were important to her, he just wished she would at least let him in on what exactly she had planned.

Letting out a large yawn his body reminded him that it needed sleep. For now he had to find a place to rest. Later he would try to figure a way of getting in touch with Nora and Randal.

As soon as Josh's car was out of sight of the burned out shack, Cecil moved out of the tree Fidele peed on. "Close call," he said, with a sigh of relief. He took a chance being caught, but he managed to hear everything that was said to Josh between the old woman and the young boy. In a blink of an eye he appeared in Randal's car. He quickly told them what he saw and heard.

"Controlled by a bracelet?" Nora said. "Can that happen?"

"I've seen worse," Randal said.

Nora shook her head, "If that dog-boy fixed Josh's phone so we can't trace him, how are we going to follow him now?"

Randal tried to push away her fears, "Nora, in the short time I've known Josh I've found that he is very smart, and very resourceful. Don't worry, we'll find him." He gently patted her on the shoulder in a consoling way.

Starting his car, he smiled at her, "Been hunting wolves for over two thousand years and haven't lost one yet." Winking at her he said, "We'll find him Nora, you happen to be sitting next to the best hunter that ever lived."

Cecil searched the car, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see a living hunter here."

"All right," Randal said, as he shifted the gears on his car. "Best hunter that lived, and died. Ain't no body can do what I do better."

As they raced down the dirt road Nora stared ahead, she was getting tired. She hadn't slept since Josh was taken from her. No longer able to fight back the sleep that tugged at her eyes, she crawled in the back and went to sleep. As the voices of her companions began to fade into her dreams she thought it odd to feel safe sleeping in a car with a vampire and a ghost.


	8. A Golden Oldie

Being Human: When will My Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Eight

A Golden Oldie

Randal boldly walked up to Sally's house. Stopping at the alley he could see a vampire standing guard at the back. He slowly approached him, stopping half way in the alley he beckoned him to come to him.

"Hello Abe," Randal called out. "Mother want's to know if you've seen any sign of Aidan's dog."

Abe knew Randal, most vampires did. When a job called for someone or something to be hunted, Randal was the one Mother depended on getting the job done. He was someone that Abe wanted to stay on the good side. He swiftly moved down the alley to meet Randal.

Abe shook his head, "Nothing so far, but I have seen…"

As Abe filled Randal in on what he had seen, or not seen Randal saw two dark shadows moving in the back of the ally. They stop at the back door of Sally's house. Once they were inside Randal patted Abe on the back. "I'll be sure to let Mother know you're doing a good job."

"No one will get past me," Abe said as he began to walk back to his original position.

"We need more vampires like you. I'm going inside, I may find something there that will help me find that mutt."

"When you do," Abe called out. "Let me know, I can't wait to see it fight again in the dog fights. I lost a lot of money betting against him last time he fought, he owes me."

"I'll let you know," Randal shouted as he walked back to the front of the house. Slowly he climbed up the stairs. Glancing around he saw two more vampires staring at the house. They all knew that Randal was Mother's number one hunter. If anyone could find Aidan's dog, it would be Randal.

With a kick at the door, he pushed it open. Entering the house he breathed a sigh of relief, he made it in. He quickly made sure every blind and curtain in the windows was closed. Glancing around he went to a radio he saw sitting in the kitchen. Turing it on he raised the volume. Looking at the kitchen he said, "It's safe to talk, you can come out now."

"Thank god," Nora said, as she climbed out from under the kitchen table and stood up. Cecil appeared by her side.

Randal patted the radio. "The radio should drown out our conversation. We vampires have very good hearing, this should keep the ones posted outside from hearing us."

"How long do you think we can stay here?" Nora softly asked Randal.

"They'll be keeping an eye out for anything around the house but not in it. We should be able to stay here long enough to find out what happened to Sally."

Slowly they began to search the house, calling for Sally. Fifteen minutes later they were sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. "Like I said," Cecil said. "She's just not here."

"Where could she be?" Nora said.

"She's gone," they heard a woman say from behind.

Turning around they saw a dark haired woman standing behind them. Nora immediately recognized her. She jumped up and ran around the couch, "I saw you talking to Sally at the hospital."

"Yes, I'm Rena, her mother," she said with a sad smile. "I've been visiting this house every day, hoping that her friends would come looking for her so I can tell them what happened to her."

"Tell me," Nora begged her. "Where's Sally?"

Rena shook her head, "If I had not seen it myself, I would never believe what Sally had done."

"What did she do?" Cecil asked her.

With tears flowing down her cheeks Rena said, "She shredded herself."

Cecil's eyes went wide in shock, "My god, I didn't even think that was possible."

Rena shook her head, "She was so distressed. She was upset, said she shredded others. She said she needed to go to Limbo, that there were two ways to get there. She wanted me to…to shred her. How could I do that to my daughter?" Rena sobbed. "How could she ask her mother to do such a thing?"

Rena wiped the tears from her cheeks. "She was so upset that night. She would talk to me, then it was as if she was speaking to someone else. But I was the only one there."

"I told her I was so proud of her, that I was always proud of her, then my door appeared, there." Rena pointed to a spot on the floor. "I told her to take it, it was her other way to limbo. I wouldn't have to shred her."

"Oh Rena, what happened?" Nora said.

Rena worriedly rung her hands, "She said she couldn't leave it to chance. I know the real reason, she didn't want to take my door. She was afraid I would become crazy, like her. I saw my daughter shred herself," Rena sobbed. "She tore herself apart in front of me. She wanted me to send her to limbo, but she did it herself."

"I can't believe she had the guts to do that," Cecil said. "If Sally shredded herself, she's in limbo. I don't know what we can do to get her back from there."

"That is why I could not go through my door. My daughter, how could I pass through when I saw what my daughter had done. I don't know if I can get another door, but I don't care. I had to stay, to let you know what happened."

She looked at Nora, "Tell Josh, tell Aidan what happened to her. They are her friends, they pulled her back from darkness before. I pray that they can do it again."

"Don't worry," Nora said. "I give you my word, we'll do everything possible to get her back."

Rena smiled her thanks, "That's all I ask."

"Looks like you got your second chance," Cecil said. He pointed behind Rena. Turning around she saw a wooden door. "Sally, how can I take it with her trapped in limbo."

Cecil gently pushed her towards the door. "A ghost doesn't get many second chances. Use your door Rena, don't let Sally's sacrifice be for nothing. She wanted you to be happy, use your door."

Rena saw the door slowly begin to open. A bright white light flooded the room. She seemed to absorb the light, smiling her eyes curved in happiness. She looked back at Nora. "My Sally, she is blessed with such loyal friends. Their love for her will save her. Nora, remember this, when things look darkest look to your heart." She began to back up to her door. "The greatest magic lies within." She turned around and stepped through her door. Once it closed, the door vanished.

"Well," Randal said. "We found out what happened to Sally."

"Limbo," Cecil said. "I heard so many stories about it."

"Have you ever heard of any with ghosts that escaped from it?" Nora asked him.

"Nope," Cecil replied. "Just that it was somewhere you did not want to go."

"We do know Limbo does open up, for a short time," Randal said. "During a solar eclipse."

"I wonder when the next one is going to happen around here?" Nora said.

"August 21, 2017," Randal said.

"Okay," Cecil said. "I guess Solar Eclipse option is off the table, at least for the next four years."

"How do we even know she's here?" Randal said. "For all we know, she may have gone to a different place."

Randal and Nora sat on the back edge of the couch, staring at the spot where Rena said her door appeared.

"I guess we found our answer," Randal said.

"Yes," Nora said. "Let's go, we've done all we can here."

Randal had to create a diversion for them to leave. Nora went back into the kitchen to wait for him. As Cecil passed by the radio, he stopped. It was playing a song that he recognized. In fact it was a song that made him realize that it could not be a coincidence. Sally was there!

Sally quietly sat on the arm of the couch. She was exhausted and getting very tired of Danny's constant gloating from the first moment she saw him.

"I guess wishes do come true," Danny said. "All those times I was being ripped apart I kept wishing that you would be here too."

Nick was sitting on the stairs, Danny just would not let up on her. "Why don't you just let it go. You're almost as bad as the rippers."

Sally jumped off the couch's arm and began to walk away. "I almost look forward to the rippers just to keep from hearing you compla…" Sally stopped walking when she felt something, something was different in the house. She jumped back when she actually saw the faint image of Randal enter the house.

"Randal," she quietly said, "You're here."

"Who's Randal?" Nick asked her.

"Another new friend," she told him. The silence of the house was broken by music playing on the radio.

Sally had to stifle a scream of joy as she saw Nora and Cecil walk into the front room. She would see them come and go as they moved around the house. She followed Nora, hoping that she would somehow be able to talk to her, let her know that she was there, just trapped in Limbo.

She felt her heart sink when she saw her mother. She was able to catch some words as they faded in and out. Her mother was telling them what happened. Then the room was flooded with light. Sally found it actually hurt to look at it. She moved away from it, to stand with Nick.

Then the light was gone. Thankful she now heard her friends speaking of leaving. She had to find a way to let them know she was there. She stood in front of Nora, but she just passed right through her. Angry, she slammed her fist into the radio. Touching it, a song suddenly came to her. She saw Cecil walk past the radio. With her hands still in the radio, she was shocked to hear it playing the song.

"Randal," Cecil said. "Wait, you hear that?"

Randal listened carefully, "That's a golden oldie, Hey Baby by Bruce Channel, always liked this song."

"You don't understand," Cecil said. "It was a song that June used to say was hers and Aidan's song."

Nora and Randal joined Cecil at the radio, the song continued to play.

"_Hey, hey baby. I want to know, if you'll be my girl."_

Sally couldn't believe it, she got their attention, now she had to find a way to talk to them.

"Sally," Nick hissed. "You're going to bring the rippers back."

Sally concentrated on the radio, "I have to try Nick, I have to try."

Nora and Randal covered their ears as loud static began to blast out of the radio, then the song would continue. They all nearly leaped on the radio when they heard something else, in the static.

"_Hey, hey bab_….Nnnnn…Nora, Nora cccc…can you hear me?..._if you'll be my girl_."

"Sally!" Nora shouted. "I can, I can hear you."

"_When I saw you walking down the stree_….Nora, I'm here. Oh god, I'm here…_She's so pretty, Lord she's fine_."

"Sally, are you all right?"

"_Hey, hey baby_….Nnnno Nora, I made a big mistake. I'm trapped here…_If you'll be my girl."_

"Sally," Nora cried out, "How can we help you?"

"_C'mon baby give me a whirl_….Nora, you have to find a way. There are things here things that…._I want to know if you'll be my girl_."

Sally heard Danny shout, "They're here. Damn you bitch, you brought them here."

Nick grabbed her arm. "Sally, we got to go."

Sally shook her head, "You go, I have to stay, they need to know, know what's here. Why they have to find a way to get us out of here."

Nick looked back, he saw the thin wisps of fog floating under the door. He didn't hesitate, he ran up the stairs.

Sally saw the fog enter the room. It quickly headed up the stairs, but suddenly stopped. She hoped it would pass her by, not notice her, but it did. A small swirl of fog broke off from the cloud. The rest drifted upstairs. What was left began to change. They knew she was there, no more hiding. She saw the creatures appear, they scuttled towards her.

Staring at the radio she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Nora, you need to find a way…"

"_Hey, hey baby…._Nora, you need to find a way to get me out of here. It never stops, over and over…."

They all jumped back when they heard a scream on the radio that tore through their hearts. It was an unearthly scream, it frightened Nora to her soul when she realized it was Sally.

Sally held tightly to the radio as she felt the ripper's claws digging deep into her back. "Help…me…Nora…" she gasped. "Aidan, Josh they have to help….me."

The pain was to strong, letting go she fell to the floor. She stared up at the ceiling as the pain of the rippers began again. The only thing that helped her this time was knowing that she was able to contact her friends. She was not alone anymore, she was not alone.

They stared at the radio in horror as they heard Sally screaming for help. Then her screaming suddenly stopped, the radio was no longer playing music. There was a man giving the local weather. Nora closed her eyes and tried to slow down her heart. It felt as if it was trying to beat out of her chest.

"I can actually feel her pain," Cecil said. He moved to the center of the room. Squatting down, he touched the floor. "Here," he said. "It's happening here."

"Randal," Nora panted. "We have to find a way to get her out of there. We can't leave her there, I can't imagine the hell of feeling that pain over and over."

"I know," Randal said. "But for now, I really have no idea how we're going to do that. First things first, we need to find Josh, get Aidan out of that hole, then we can concentrate on getting her back."

Nora sadly looked at the spot Cecil touched. He said Sally was there. "I promise, Sally, we'll be back." She turned off the radio and went back to the kitchen. She waited there for Randal to distract the vampire in the alley. Randal was right, they really had no idea how to help Sally. For now, they had to concentrate on finding Josh and getting Aidan out of his grave.

"Hold on, Sally," Nora softly prayed as she waited for Randal. "We're going to find Josh and Aidan, and they will be back here to save you." Getting a signal from Cecil, she quietly opened the back door. Before closing the door she whispered, "Hold on Sally, your guys will be back, I promise."

Slowly she closed the door, the house was quiet again. The only sound was a faint whimper of pain coming from the front room and the second floor. A whimper of pain that lasted for hours, then it was gone.


	9. Breaking down the Walls

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Nine

Breaking down the Walls

Aidan pressed the button on his wristwatch, an eerie green glow on the watch lit up the coffin for a few seconds. He saw 11:26 PM on the watch. It was a Friday.

"Friday," Aidan whispered. He could hear the dryness in his throat. He lost track how long he was down there, was it four months or five? He just didn't know. His throat was so parched it was painful to swallow. "Payday," he said out loud. "Josh and I would be drinking at the bar right now." He tried to gather enough spit to swallow, but it just would not go down his throat.

"Josh, what happened to you, did Mother get you?" He banged his fist on the coffins lid, "Damn it Cecil, where are you?" He began to cough, as the roughness in his throat choked him.

"You…promised," he croaked.

He wanted to close his eyes, but it made no difference, he was always in total darkness. Only closing his eyes meant he would dream, or have nightmares. His time was spent keeping awake, and living with the hunger that ate him up inside. His eyes stared into the darkness, it seemed to grow lighter, he faintly heard a small boy's voice softly singing.

"_Lavender's green, diddle, diddle, Lavender's blue."_

Aidan began to cry, "I sang that to you," he sobbed, but no tears came out.

"To help me sleep," the boy's voice said. "Sing with me, Fa."

"I'll try, son," Aidan said.

Clearing his throat he hesitantly croaked,_ "You must…love me, diddle, diddle…'Cause I love you."_

Aidan faintly saw a small boy's face begin to appear above him, he smiled down at him. "There you go, Fa. Keep singing."

Aidan flinched when he heard a man's voice loudly declare, "Why are you singing? You were going to help me run the printing business, boy. Instead you go off to fight in your fool war."

"I'm sorry, father," Aidan sobbed.

"You're a man, men don't cry," he bellowed. "No wonder Mother grounded you, you're a foolish boy who wouldn't listen to your father."

"He never listened to me too," Aidan heard Bishop say. "Mother was right to ground you, such a bad boy, she let you off easy. I can't protect you anymore, Aidan. You saw to that, if only you had listened to me."

"Fa," Aidan heard his son say. "Why didn't you listen to your fathers?"

"Why?" Aidan heard his father and Bishop say.  
"Why?" his son said, repeatedly he heard them ask him. He dug his fists in his ears and shouted at them to be quiet. He screamed and screamed to drown out their voices until his voice failed him.

A Vampire that was guarding the grave looked down. He could faintly hear a muffled scream from below. He quickly nudged his companion. "Call Mother, she said to let her know when he starts to go crazy."

As his companion called Mother, the vampire sadly shook his head, "Man, I'm never going to get on Mother's bad side as long as I live."

Josh stared out a broken window. He was standing on the second floor of a building so old he was shocked it hadn't fallen down decades ago. Green and orange mold seemed to be growing on everything, its earthy smell was so strong he covered his nose. Deanna was on one of her chants again. Almost seven months had gone by since she first snapped that cursed bracelet on his wrist. This was the fourth place they had visited since they left the cottage.

Seven months to visit four places, it should have taken a week. It was Deanna that held things up. She spent several hours a day in a trance looking for the next place. When they'd find one, she would tell Josh it was wrong and the chanting would start again. It seemed to be an endless cycle. When she was in a trance, Josh would have to sit and wait for her to snap out of it. One of her trances actually lasted a week.

Looking out the window Josh saw Fidele playing with a stray dog. Fidele, he wasn't as bad as Josh first thought. After that prank he played copying Aidan, Josh found that he was really quite harmless. He was just a fun loving spirit. Josh realized if it wasn't for Fidele the only entertainment he'd have was to watch the gaudy wallpaper peeling off the walls of the motels they stayed in.

Josh saw the stray dog jump back when the Pooka changed into a dog. Yipping in joy their play turned rougher. They were in the lower part of Texas now, near the small town of Mission. Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about Mother tracing his credit card when he needed money. Deanna had the next best thing, gold coins. They would stop off at a local bank and cash them in for paper money.

Glancing back Josh saw Deanna slowly walking around the room. He flinched when he saw her eyes. They were always dead white when she was humming.

Hearing a loud bark Josh looked out the window. He saw two other dogs trotting towards Fidele. Their heads bowed close to the ground they were growling at Fidele.

Josh grinned widely, he knew what was about to happen next. Fidele suddenly changed into a wolf. Startled the dogs turned tail and ran into the woods. The small dog that Fidele first played with also ran away. Looking up Fidele changed into a raven and flew into the air.

'_On one of his sweeps for a sign of Mother,'_ Josh thought.

He slowly made his way to the hallway that led to the stairs going down, or what was left of them. Turning around he could tell Deanna was almost done, her eyes were beginning to turn back to their normal color.

He stood on the threshold of the doorway, waiting for her humming to stop. That was a sure sign she was done. Instead, he heard a loud crack. Looking down he saw the wooden floor slowly begin to shift. He thought it had to be the combined weight of him and Deanna on the ancient floor.

"Deanna, we need to get out of here, NOW!" he shouted to her. But she did not hear him, she was still under a trance. "Damn it," Josh cursed. He knew when she was in a deep trance a jet could fall on top of her and she still would not wake her.

Slowly turning he gingerly began to walk towards her. He could actually feel the boards under his feet creaking and groaning. "Deanna, time to wake up," he nervously sung.

She was carrying the carved figure like a baby in her arms. Josh could see the eyes on the figure were still closed. She was not done, but he knew he had minutes to get him, and Deanna out of there. Suddenly a voice inside told him to stop. Her command for him to protect her from Mother did not include this. He could stand back, leave her here and let her die. Then the bracelet's spell over him would be over.

Slowly he began to walk back. Then he saw her smile as the eyes on the statue opened up. Josh saw a smile that was not from someone evil, it was a loving smile. Fidele had to have a reason for staying with her. He had to admit, she never physically hurt him. Cursing himself he found his reason's for leaving her growing weaker. He realized that he was just not the kind of man to leave her here and let her die like that.

Angrily pursing his lips, he headed back into the room. Hearing a groan and seeing a dust cloud puffing on the other side of the room he ran to Deanna. He then heard a crashing sound below, the floor was going. Glancing back, he knew he would never be able to grab her and make it out of the room in time. He only had one way out. He ran to Deanna, wrapping his arm around her waist he lifted her and threw her over his shoulder.

He then ran to the only other exit of the room, he sprinted towards the open window. His footing became slippery as the floor below him began to lean one way, than the other. Just as he heard another crashing sound, he leaped towards the window. He reached it as the floor below him dropped. Pulling himself through the window he landed on a small roof. He held onto Deanna as he slid down the shingled roof until he came close to the edge.

He tried to stop his momentum, but the shingles on the roof were so loose they broke under his and Deanna's weight. Josh lashed out his hand, searching for something to grab.  
He found a thin board under the loose shingles. Grabbing it, he felt his legs go over the edge. He held onto the board with one hand, while the other tightly gripped Deanna.

"FIDELE!" Josh shouted. "Need a little help here."

He didn't know how long he could hold on. "Deanna," Josh screamed, "Wake up, I need you to wake up now."

He felt her stirring from her trance. She tightly hugged the carving to her chest. "That's it," Josh said. "Wake up Deanna, or we're both going to end up in traction at the local hospital, that or their morgue." Josh mumbled. "FIDELE," he shouted.

"W…what is going on?" Deanna said. The last thing she could remember was walking into a room of the abandoned house. Searching around she couldn't believe where she was. Lying on the wolfs shoulder twenty feet in the air.

"Deanna, you need to do something….FIDELE!" Josh screamed. "I can't hold on much longer. FIDELE, get your dog ass, or raven's beak or I don't care what you get here. Get it here fast because I can't hold on much longer."

Looking below Josh saw the broken up concrete that used to be the driveway. Of course they wouldn't be hanging over something soft, it had to be something that could break every bone in their bodies.

"Deanna, can't you do something?" he pleaded with her.

"I don't know what to do, let me think."

The thin board Josh held onto suddenly splintered. He screamed as he slid down, he found another board and latched onto it. Gripping it tight he shouted, "Think faster, think faster."

Deanna closed her eyes, she searched for something that could save them. Finding it, Josh heard her humming again. He felt her sliding down, gripping her tighter, he closed his eyes and tried to concentrated every ounce of energy on his hands.

"They're coming," Josh heard Deanna say.

"What's coming?' Josh shouted.

He didn't see what was coming at first, but he heard it, a loud flapping sound. The moon was bright that night, he saw large shadows flying towards them. He could make out large wings. The huge birds soared slowly in the air. As they came closer, he could see their red baldheads. There were twenty, no thirty of them flying overhead. Circling him they began to look like a bird tornado. Huge vultures were flying over them.

Deanna's humming took on a different pitch. Josh saw one of the vultures swoop down, its claws opened up, another, then another came down. Their claws gripped his legs, his arms, his jacket. Holding him tight their wings vigorously began flapping.

"Let go," Deanna shouted.

Josh's instinct for survival screamed at him not to, but he knew for them to live he needed to listen to Deanna. He released his grip. He gasped as they fell a few inches, more birds came down. Josh flinched in pain as he felt their sharp talons cutting into his legs. The birds flew them safely to the ground below. As they touched down, they released Josh.

Once they were safe, the birds immediately flew away, joining the bird tornado. Josh quickly stood up, he helped Deanna off the ground.

"Turkey vultures," Deanna said, as she pointed up. "They are simple creatures of nature. The goddess protects them, and they protect us as well. Magnificent, aren't they?"

"I always thought they were ugly," Josh admitted. "But tonight I agree, magnificent."

Josh could hear groaning and crashing from inside the house. The entire house was collapsing. Jumping out of the window was the only way out of that death trap.

"You, you saved me," Deanna said. She suddenly realized that if Josh had not carried her out that window, she would be dead.

Josh held up the bracelet, "As you ordered me to do."

Deanna slowly shook her head. "No, my order was to protect me from Mother and her Vampires. You could have stepped away and let me die in there. You did that on your own."

Josh looked down at her, he didn't need her to remind him. He had his chance, and his damn conscious took it away from him. "Let's go," he softly said.

He took a step and stumbled. Deanna pointed to his leg, "You are injured."

Josh looked down, he saw three growing blood spots on his legs. The vulture's sharp talons pierced his legs.

Deanna looked up at him, he could see sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry, my magic does not heal."

Josh began to walk back to the car, "Don't worry, I'm sure it's not bad, I can take care of it, just need to stop off at a drug store."

"What did I miss," Josh heard Fidele shout from above. He was falling from the ground, feathers on his arms were just beginning to disappear. "I saw the vultures circling over the house. I came here as fast as I could."

Deanna tightly held the statue in her hands. "The house, it collapsed as I finished the spell. Josh was injured as we tried to escape. We need to get those wounds tended to."

Josh realized this was the first time she called him by his name since they left the cottage, not wolf, but Josh.

Deanna quickly made her way back to where Josh had parked the car. As Josh followed her he saw Fidele curiously staring at him. "I don't know what I missed, but it looks like things here may have shifted a bit."

Josh slightly nodded his head, "Just a bit."

Josh looked back at Deanna, he saw something in her eyes he had not seen before, concern. Well, he thought, her brick wall may just be breaking down. This old witch just may have a heart. It was something that he would work on, for now he had to tend to the wounds on his leg.


	10. This Dog Bites Back

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter ten

This Dog Bites Back

Josh slowly walked down the aisle of a drug store. He needed to find a strong antiseptic that he could use to clean the wounds on his leg. It had been over a week since the incident in Texas. In that time the puncture marks made from the buzzard's talons had not healed. In fact he noticed he was starting to get a low grade fever.

He was desperate enough to have Deanna change him into a wolf, but he still did not heal. It had to be a full moon change, and that was two weeks away. He needed to heal the wounds the old-fashioned way. Coming to the end of the aisle he saw a large aisle that separated the front of the store to the back. He walked to the second section of the store. He heard Fidele behind him crunching. Carrying a large back of potato chips, he was practically devouring it.

"I don't know where you put it," Josh told Fidele. "That's the fourth bag today."

"We Pooka's never get fat," Fidele said.

"If you could bottle it and sell it, you'd make a lot of money," Josh mumbled.

Emptying the bag of chips Fidele picked up a toy sword, he slashed it at a stuffed teddy bear.

"That's Captain Sparrow to you sir. You want my Black Pearl? I shall have your innards for breakfast first."

"So you've kept up with modern movies too?" Josh asked him. Glancing down this aisle, he saw the pharmacy at the end. He slowly began to walk down it, Fidele followed him, slashing the sword left and right.

"Oh yes, I've always loved swashbuckling moves. There ain't a better swasher than me."

Fidele continued to duel with his unseen opponent as Josh came to the end of the aisle. Glancing around he went to his left. Coming to the pharmacy he peeked inside. He saw the pharmacist standing in front of shelves filled with medicine that could help him. He knew exactly what he needed to heal the wounds. Without a prescription that medicine was not an option.

Looking up he saw a mirror on the wall that reflected the next aisle. He saw a woman opening the door to a freezer and pulling out a gallon of milk. Looking to the side she smiled and blush. Approaching the aisle Josh looked down, he quickly moved back to hide at the end of the aisle. Looking up he saw only the woman on the mirror.

He peeked down the aisle, he saw two men standing next to the woman. One of them was solidly built, blonde hair, and very pale skin. He was dressed from head to toe in black leather. His companion was the opposite, lean and dark skinned. The pale one was talking to the woman.

"Vampires," Josh hissed. They did not cast a reflection on the mirror. Every bell and whistle went off in Josh's head, he had to get out of there now. He nearly jumped as Fidele suddenly appeared next to him. "Damn it, stop doing that," he hissed to Fidele.

"Fine," Fidele grumped. "Then I won't tell you that I smell vampires in the store."

"I know," Josh whispered. "They're down that aisle." He shook his head, how did they find him? He hoped they were not part of Mother's hunting team.

"We need to leave before they start any trouble," Josh told Fidele.

The soothing music playing on the speakers in the store was drowned by the piercing scream of a woman. Josh didn't have to look to know what happened.

"To late," Fidele said.

"Thanks Captain Obvious, I guessed that myself.'

Josh scooted down the next aisle when he saw a shadow run towards the pharmacy. In seconds he heard screams coming from the pharmacy. When he first entered the store he only saw two employees and one customer in the store. He heard two screams, he prayed that the third was able to get away. His hopes were dashed when he heard a third person screaming. He searched the aisle he was standing in for something he could use to help him. Unfortunately he was standing in the soap aisle.

"Great," he thought. "It couldn't be the gardening aisle." At least there he could grab a shovel or a broom handle. Both were made of wood.

He heard a whistle, a whistle used to call dogs. "Here doggie," Josh heard a man call out, "Where you hiding?" His voice was thick with a Slavic, maybe Russian accent.

Josh glanced to the side. Keeping low he began to back down the aisle. It was then that he noticed that Fidele was gone. He didn't know whether he should feel relieved or mad. He stopped when he heard things being thrown on the floor.

"Do not make us look for you," the Russian accent shouted.

Taking in a deep breath, Josh tried to reason with him. "Leave me alone, I'm not worth your trouble."

Josh saw someone step into the aisle he was standing in. He was in the first section of the store. He could see it was the pale vampire. His chin was covered in blood.

"Aw, listen to puppy whimper," the pale vampire said, with a bloody smile.

"He needs to know who his masters are, Afanas," the dark skinned vampire said, as he stepped next to him. His skin was nearly as black as Afanas' jacket.

Josh searched for a quick way out of there. The dark vampire jumped on top of a shelf, running down it he knocked merchandise on the floor. Stopping at the end out the aisle his head fell back and he let out a howl. "Come on little doggie, we just want to play."

"Get down, David," Afanas shouted. "You no good to me with broken neck."

Jumping down, David ran down the aisle towards Josh. Josh grabbed the liquid detergent, opening it he threw its contents on the floor. David had no time to stop, he fell on the floor once his feet hit the soap.

Josh ran around the corner, he searched for an aisle with merchandise that would be more useful for him.

"Uh, uh, wolf," Josh heard Afanas shout. "You can not go, you did not say Mother may I."

David tried to stand, but the soap was too slippery, he kept falling down. "I don't care if Mother want's him alive, I'm going to rip him to shreds, Afanas."

Coming to the end of the aisle Josh slid to a stop as Afanas jumped in front of him.

"Boo!" Afanas said.

Josh jumped back, his heart was beating so fast he felt as if it would jump out of his chest. He searched around him, looking for something to use to help him fight the vampires.

"Oh, is puppy scared of big Afanas?" the vampire said.

Josh was panting hard, he spied a door marked employees only. He spun around and grabbed a container of foot powder. Opening it, he squeezed the plastic container. A cloud of white powder flew at Afanas. Jumping back, he began coughing as his throat and lungs were filled with the powder. Josh didn't waste time, he ran to the door and shoved it open.

He saw a long hallway with three doors, one just to the right was marked bathroom, at the end of the hallway on the left the door was marked 'Employees Lunchroom'. The door at the very back of the hallway gave Josh hope. Above it was a bright red 'EXIT' sign. Running to it, he tried to open it, he quickly realized he needed a code to get the door open. He could hear Afanas screaming at David to help him. He opened the door to the lunchroom.

Shoving the door open he was surprised to see a man sitting at a table. He wondered why he didn't hear what happened in the store, until he saw headphones planted in the young man's ears.

The young man's nametag read, 'RALPH'. Grabbing the headphones, he ripped them out of Ralph's ears.

"Hey," Ralph angrily shouted. "What the hell, man. Those are new buds."  
"Listen Ralph," Josh shouted at him. "You got to give me the code to open the door!"

"No you have to get out, sir. Only store employees are allowed in here."

Josh tried to think of a way of getting Ralph to open the exit door. He knew a story of Vampires would never work. He tried to think of something that he would believe, until he heard the door in the hallway slam open.

"Come here, mutt," Afanas screamed. "You have been a very bad dog."

Josh pulled Ralph towards the lockers. Opening one, he began to push him inside.

"If you want to live, get inside."

"What's wrong with you, dude?" Ralph said. "Chill."

"Chill on this," Josh said. He pulled back and punched Ralph in the face. He stuffed him in the locker and closed it. Spinning around he saw the door slam open. Afanas was standing in the doorway. Foot powder still clung to his hair. Behind him was a very angry, and soapy David.

Afanas stepped into the room. Josh slowly began to walk away from the lockers.

"Where I come from," Afanas said. "Wolf more respectful of vampires. But I come here, and you American wolfs. Well I see that you need a lesson of respect."

He slowly began to unbuckle his belt and pull it out. Josh saw a bright silver buckle on the end. Folding the belt in half, he slapped the buckle in his palm.

"Mother want you very badly," Afanas said. "Have price on your head. She sent Randal to look for you, but he not get job done. She call in other hunters to find you. Afanas lucky, he find you first. He get prize because he best hunter."

"I want a shot at him first," David said. He stepped into the lunchroom. "He made a fool of me, no mutt does that to me."

Afanas widely grinned, "Go ahead, just remember, Mother said she want him back alive. We get no reward for dead wolf."

David slowly cracked his head to the side, "No problem, bro."

Josh searched for something he could use to protect himself. Unfortunately this lunchroom was the cleanest lunchroom he ever saw. Desperate he grabbed a chair and threw it at David. The dark vampire laughed as he easily knocked it to the side. His eyes turned black, his teeth grew longer.

"The one that made me taught me many things," he purred. "You see he had a particular hate for Wolfs. Oh, we had so much fun back then. I miss those days."

Grinning widely he snarled, "Let's rock."

Josh had no other choice, he had to protect himself. Fisting his hands he said, "Come on, you're going to find, this dog bites back."

Backed up in a corner Josh now went on the offensive. As David lunged towards him he grabbed the glass coffee pot and smashed it on the table. Holding the handle he slashed the shattered glass at David. He jumped back, wincing as Josh managed to cut him.

"Correct if I'm wrong," Afanas said, as he put his belt back on. "But to me look like wolf winning, not you."

"Shut up," David slavered. The stinging of the cuts made him angrier. He was going to make this wolf pay for making him look bad to Afanas.

Grabbing the chair Josh threw at him, he used it as a shield. He ran to Josh, with the legs facing him Josh tried to avoid becoming impaled. He slammed hard into the wall. David buried the legs of the chair into the wall, pinning Josh. He was forced to release the broken carafe.

Moving back David wiped the spit from his lips, "You're going to pay for that, I don't like to get cut. I especially don't like getting cut by a mutt."

Kicking the carafe away, he pulled the chair out with one hand, the other hand tightly clutched Josh by the neck. He pulled his fist back and punched Josh in the face, and the stomach. Josh tried to fight back, but it was all he could do to just breathe. Satisfied he had hurt Josh enough for now, David pulled him away from the wall.

"Now we do it old style," David sighed.

He pulled something out of his pocket. "Looky what I found." He was holding a rope used to hang clothes. Spinning Josh around he looped the rope around his neck, slamming Josh on the ground he pulled his legs back and tied the rope to his feet. Lifting his hands in the air he declared, "Boy howdy, hogtied him in record time."

Standing up he punched him in the side. Josh gasped in pain, he had to arch his back to keep from choking himself.

"My maker loved to watch them squirm," David told Afanas. He watched Josh struggle to keep from being choked to death. The rope bit deep into his neck. He could feel it tighten just taking in a breath. Kneeling in front of Josh, David rabbit punched him in the side. A crack was heard in the room. Josh choked, he struggled to keep his head back.

Laughing David pointed to Josh's chest. "Cracked one of the floating ribs, I bet it stings like hell."

"You done now?" Afanas said.

"Yeah," David said. "I can't do what I really want, Mother's bounty is not for a dead wolf."

Afanas pointed to Josh, "Loosen neck, dog no good to me if he can not breathe."

David took one last jab at Josh, before reluctantly cutting the rope. With his head released Josh took in deep breaths. He gasped for air, the rope was still there but it no longer choked him.

As David cut the rope from his feet Afanas walked up to Josh, grabbing the end of the rope attached to his neck, he dragged Josh up.

"Stand wolf, we go now."

Josh panted hard, he was never in so much pain. He struggled to walk as Afanas pulled him out of the lunchroom. David was right behind him, he kicked him in the back of the knee, laughing as he saw Josh stumble.

Stepping through the door that led back into the store Afanas immediately stopped, he quickly pulled out a large gun hidden in his jacket. Josh saw six vampires standing in front of them.

"Well, well," a dark haired woman said. Josh found it hard to keep his eyes away from her, her clothes were two sizes to small. She bulged out of places that would make a prostitute blush. "I was right to follow you.'

"Mariana," Afanas hissed. "You are like gum on bottom of shoe, can't get off no matter how hard I scrape. What you doing here?"

"Me and the boys were just in the neighborhood. What you got there?"

Josh gasped as Afanas jerked the rope. "This? This just dumb dog we caught for fights."

Mariana eyed Josh, "I know what I'm betting on, the other wolf."

"Really?" Josh said.

Afanas elbowed Josh in the stomach, "You are to be keeping quiet."

"I do have to admit," Mariana purred. "He is a cutie, love those sad eyes."

"This one not worth your trouble, Mariana," Afanas said. "He's just dog food, we use to train real fighters. Now go, little sister call, she said to give back her clothes."

"Dog food?" Josh quickly said. "Aidan didn't think so after I won my fi…"

"Quiet," Afanas hissed at Josh, jerking the rope.

"Aidan?" Mariana said. "This little puppy knows Aidan?"

Josh could clearly see that these two had history. Maybe, he thought, he could use that to his advantage. "I'm his dog," Josh croaked as Afanas pulled the rope on his neck tighter.

A knowing smile graced Mariana's lips. "Aidan's dog, I heard Mother put a bounty on it."

"No," Afanas quickly replied, "This not Aidan's dog, just stupid mutt that needs muzzling. He just saying that to keep from being used as dog food in fights."

Mariana snapped her fingers, the other vampires with her surrounded Afanas. "You always said you were the best hunter, now why would you waste your time hunting a 'stupid mutt'?" Mariana shook her head, "You wouldn't." She looked closer at Josh, she could see in his eyes that this was not a dumb animal.

"I must say if this is Aidan's dog, I'm surprised that you actually found him."

Angry, Afanas pounded his fist on his chest, "I am best hunter in my country, any country!"

Mariana slyly smiled, she pushed the right button, now she just had to push more. "I think Randal may have a thing to say about that."

Afanas spit on the ground, "Randal, what he knows I have long forgotten. I find him first, I get bounty."

"Then he is Aidan's dog." Mariana said. "And you're taking him in for the reward. I want a cut of that, I heard Mother just raised it, it's no longer $5,000. It's now $10,000."

"That's all?" Josh said.

"Quiet," Afanas said. "You cause much trouble."

"You know," Mariana said, "I changed my mind, I don't want to split it, traveling costs and all."

Afanas pointed his gun at Mariana, "Reward only mine, I am leaving with him and you are not going to stop me. You know me, this not ordinary gun. I carry it to keep jealous hunters away from my prey."

Mariana stared at the gun, "I heard about it, bullets with wooden tips, they say they leave a nasty sting."

Afanas pointed the gun at her, "Want to find out?"

Mariana crossed her arms. "Now Afanas, look at the odds. There are just two of you, there are six of us."

"I not shoot six, just one." He pointed the gun at her chest. "Now tell 'boys' to back away. Gun getting heavy may need to lighten it, getting rid of one bullet will help."

Smiling Mariana placed her hands on her hips. "You won't get far. It's a long way back to Mother, you're going to have to watch your back every second."

"Not a problem, I have done that all my life," Afanas said. He slowly dragged and pulled Josh towards the front of the store. The vampires kept a short distance away from him, but they continued to follow him. Keeping on eye on Mariana, he slowly made his way down the aisle. Josh's head was bowed down, he struggled to keep on his feet. He suddenly bumped into Afanas. The vampire stood in the center of the aisle. Looking up Josh saw something that brought him hope. He saw a small black dog standing at the end of the aisle.


	11. An Uneasy Truce

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Eleven

An Uneasy Truce

"How the hell did that dog get in here?" Afanas shouted to David.

David stepped around Afanas, he saw a small black dog standing at the end of the aisle. It happily barked at them. Running to them, it jumped up on its hind legs and barked at them. "It's just a small nugget," David cooed.

Josh realized that Fidele did not desert him, but where did he go? He quickly realized he must have gone after Deanna. He was surrounded by eight vampires, he knew Deanna was powerful, he just wasn't sure if she could handle that many vampires.

Josh shouted, "Get out of here mutt, go home." Softly he whispered, "Get out of here Fidele, and take Deanna with you."

David took a step closer to the small dog. "That's strange, I never saw purple eyes on a dog before."

"WHAT!" Afanas screamed. "What did you say?"

"He's got purple eyes," David said.

Afanas pulled Josh in front of him, "David, we've got to get out of here," he whispered. He began to back up the aisle but Mariana's men blocked his way. He stopped in front of the refrigerator section of the store. He pushed his back against the thick glass doors.

Mariana glanced down the aisle, "I thought 'you great hunter'," she said in his accent. "You're afraid of a small dog?"

"Mother's shadow," Afanas whispered. His voice was quivering in fear, he heard the legends. He also knew that the bounty on her head was larger than on the wolf he held. He let out a curse, he could never take her alone.

"Truce," Afanas suddenly shouted.

"What?" Mariana said. "Why would I do that?"

"You know of Mother's Shadow?" Afanas asked Mariana.

Mariana suddenly looked frightened. "Mother's Shadow, I heard of her, but thought it was just a bedtime story told to new vampires to scare them. Are you sure?"

"Believe me, it is her. My maker tell me, long ago he hunted special prey for Mother…witches."

"Witches," Josh scoffed. "Come on, I think he's been feeding on one to many drunks."

Afanas shook Josh hard, "You be quiet, there are witches. My maker say all witches killed but one. She was the most powerful of them all. She stay hidden, no hunter could find her. She was said to be like Mother's shadow. She always follow Mother, made her life hell."

Afanas nervously looked down the hallway. "I heard stories of Vampires that Mother paid to find her. When they were found, after what she did to them, they said it was wonder they still alive."

"How can you be sure it's her?" Mariana said.

He pointed down the aisle, "Her companion is creature with purple eyes."

David couldn't understand why Afanas was so upset. "Afanas, it's just a dog."

Hearing a growl from behind he turned around and saw that the dog was gone, a black wolf now stood in the aisle. His lips pulled back, David immediately noticed that the wolf's eyes were also a bright purple.

One of Mariana's vampires shouted, "That ain't no wolf. Full moon's not due for several days."

"I can see that Rufus, if not a wolf, then what?" Mariana asked.

Afanas pulled the rope around Josh's neck tighter when he heard someone humming. Suddenly the temperature in the entire store dropped down so low he saw his breath in front of him. The wolf with the purple eyes was gone.

Mariana heard a loud cracking sound. Looking to the side she saw the glass windows fog up, ice covered the glass. Mariana screamed as the refrigerator's glass doors exploded, showering her and the others with sharp shards of broken glass. She immediately fell to the floor, two of the vampires with her was not so quick. They cried out in agony as thick shards of glass pierced their chests and arms.

Looking up Mariana saw that one glass door did not shatter, the one where Afanas held the wolf. Afanas tightly hugged Josh to him. The glass behind him did not crack, this wolf obviously meant something to the witch.

One of the vampires wailed as something pulled him into an aisle. They could hear growling, screaming and bone cracking, then silence. David jumped back when the bloody body of the vampire was flung in the air and landed at his feet.

"Truce!" Mariana shouted as she ran to Afanas. She made sure to stay close to the wolf. "For now," she panted. "We join, together."

"We split bounty," Afanas said. "It's much more than this dog food. If we capture Mother's shadow, we split it…yes?'

"Agreed," Mariana said. Searching around, she stuttered, "Wh…what do we do now?"

"We lay trap," Afanas said.

"Deanna, get…" Josh shouted, until Afanas slapped his hand over his mouth.

"No wolf, you will not warn her."

Holding Josh tight, he began to back up, "This way, we need to find place to better defend ourselves."

"Let's go," Mariana hissed to the remaining vampires. Three of them helped the injured two up and move down the aisle. David pulled out a knife, he slowly backed up keeping an eye on everything.

The sound of a woman humming grew louder. Afanas stopped when something fell on the ground in front of him. He saw a potted plant lying on the floor, another, then another flew in the air to land near the vampires. The humming took on a different tune. David jumped back when he saw the small green plant on the floor begin to grow.

Its roots slammed into the concrete floor. Huge cracks opened the floor under them. They snaked through the store, the smell of dirt filled the air. The roots grew thicker as the plants grew taller. Soon they were surrounded by a thick growth of plants. The cold gone, the room now turned sweltering hot.

Afanas and Mariana both held Josh tightly to them. The other vampires surrounded them. A vine grew out of the ground and wrapped itself around one of the vampires leg. They saw large sharp thorns suddenly spring out of the vine. The vampire screamed in agony as the thorns pierces his skin. It felt as if he was being jabbed by a million hot pokers. Everyone moved back when they saw large boils begin to pop up on the vampires face and arms. His face soon became unrecognizable. He clawed at the boils as they filled with pus.

"Help mmmme, Mmmmariana," he slurred as he felt the boils grow in his throat. Clutching at his chest he fell on the floor, gasping for breath.

"Oh no man, that ain't happening to me," one of the vampires shouted. He pushed his way between the plants and ran down the aisle. He slid to a stop when an old woman stepped in his way, a small boy stood by her side. He almost laughed when he saw Deanna.

"Why you're just a harmless little old lady, uglier than my grandmother." His teeth grew as he snarled, "I killed her…slowly."

Fidele stepped to the side, crossing his arms he leaned on a support column. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Deanna raised her hand, roots grew out of the exposed ground, wrapping around the vampires hands and ankles, he was slammed hard on the ground. He struggled but could not move.

Deanna looked down at him. "You are a disease that needs to be killed…slowly."

Fidele ran to one of the large cracks in the floor. He picked something out of the dirt. Running to Deanna he placed I in her hand. The vampire saw the old woman whispering something into her hand. Turning her hand she dropped it on his stomach. He felt something cold wriggling on his skin. It grew larger as it wriggled towards his belly button. He cried in agony as he felt it drilling into his stomach. He felt it moving in his guts, through his body. He squirmed in pain as it slowly began to eat through him.

"Slowly," Deanna said. "Eat him slowly, my pet."

Josh heard Deanna's humming begin to weaken and stop. She was using too much magic. He needed to find a way to get them out of there before they realize that she was weakening.

"She stopped humming," Josh shouted. "You guys are in trouble now, when the humming stops…look out." Josh knew the exact opposite was true, he hoped this lie would scare them enough to leave.

"We got to get out of here," Afanas told Mariana.

"Don't go," Josh heard Fidele shout. "Why the party is just getting started."

Fidele ran to Deanna, he saw her looking very pale. "Deanna, you all right?"

Deanna held her hand to her chest, "I'm sorry, Fidele," she gasped. "It has been so long, so long."

Fidele worriedly looked at her, she was Josh's only chance. He hated to admit it, but he was really starting to like that wolf. Then it hit him. "Deanna, the bracelet." He held her hand up. "You can't help Josh, but Hadwin can."

Mariana tried to add up her options. She only had one healthy vampire left, Rufus. One was dead, two were cut up with glass and two were cursed by the witch. That left four to fight that witch, if she still honored her truce with Afanas.

"I say we cut our losses," Mariana told Afanas. "We got the wolf, let's take him back and tell Mother that the rumors are true. Her shadow has returned."

After what Afanas had just witnessed he would agree with her reasoning. In seconds she had cut them down in half. "David, we go," Afanas said.

David used his knife to cut down a plant that blocked their way. Rufus helped the two injured by the glass. Keeping Josh in the center, the remaining vampires inched their way to the back of the store.

Coming to the end of the aisle, David searched down it, there was no sign of the purple eyed …anything, or an old woman.

"The employee only door," Afanas hissed. "I saw exit door at end of hallway."

Mariana took the lead, she ran to the door, opening it she saw a short hallway. At the end was a door, above it was an exit sign.

"It's empty," she told the others. They quickly ran inside. David was about to close the door when he saw an old woman standing at the end of the aisle. She held her hand up high, he could see a bracelet sparkling on her wrist. As he closed the door he heard her shout, "Wake up Hadwin, you are needed."

Slamming the door shut David locked it and broke the doors handle. "Try to follow us now, witch," he shouted. He ran to join the others. Mariana tried to open the exit door, but it would not open. "Why didn't you tell us it was locked?"

"I was busy trying to think of way to get us out of here," Afanas shot back.

"Rufus, can you get it open?" Mariana shouted.

Rufus pointed to a lit panel on the side. "You need a code."

"What are you working for, Afanas, the witch?" Mariana screamed. "We had a better fighting chance out there."

"How was I to know it was locked?" Afanas shout back.

"Stop arguing, guys," David said. "We just need to find a way of…" his words were drowned out by Josh's screams.

His back arched, the sound of cracking bones echoed in the room. "Oh my god," Mariana shouted, "He's changing."  
"Cannot be," Afanas said. "Moon not full until end of the week."

"Well look at him!" Mariana cried out.

This time Josh didn't fight the change, for the first time he allowed it to come. The only hate he kept was for the vampires that captured and tortured him. Rolling on the floor, Josh began to change fast.

Afanas held the gun aimed at Josh. "Stupid fool," Mariana frantically screamed. "That's not going to stop him." She ran into the room marked 'Employee Lunchroom'. Three followed her in, they left the vampires injured by the glass behind.

David and Rufus slammed their shoulders against the door. They cringed when they heard their deserted companions screaming as the wolf tore them apart.

Mariana nervously paced back and forth, "Think that door will hold?"

Her answer came when they heard a heavy thud on the door. David and Rufus actually moved back from the force of the blow. They quickly ran back to the door.

"We need to prop something against the door," Afanas screamed.

Grabbing the lone table in the room, they propped it against the door. They all held it up as the pounding continued, then it suddenly stopped. Rufus quickly moved the table and pressed his ear to the door. He heard the old woman talking.

"Poor Hadwin, they are hiding from you. Let Deanna fix that."

Afanas heard the humming begin again. They all heard a high-pitched squeaking sound. Rufus shouted, "Look, the hinges."

They could see the pins on the hinges of the door slowly moving up. The two lower ones fell, only the top one was left. Afanas quickly shot out the light and ran to the other side of the room as David and Rufus jumped up and tried to push the remaining pin back in the hinge. They struggled to find the hinge in the darkness, but they were to late, the door exploded open. David and Rufus were knocked across the room. The only light now came from the hallway.

Mariana fell to the side. Looking up she saw a large wolf standing on the door. His huge jowls were pulled back, his teeth were covered in blood. His eyes gazed at her with such hate, such malevolence. She watched it leap into the dark room. She saw the shadow of a wolf tearing into someone on the floor. From the screams she knew it was Rufus. She realized her guess was right when she saw his head rolling into the light.

She nearly smiled when she heard David scream. "Yes," she sighed. "That's a good boy."

When the wolf was done with David she heard a third scream. She sadly frowned, "I wish I could see you die, Afanas. It would all be worth it." Once the screaming stopped, Mariana saw the wolf coming out of the darkness. Spying David's knife she was about to pick it up, but quickly realized it would be useless. Standing up, she held her arms up as the wolf loped to her. Jumping in the air she felt a sting first, as its claws dug deep into her chest. Then she was surprised how painless it was as he bit her head off.

It rolled on the floor, as the blood poured from her head her last sight before she died was seeing her body lying on the floor.

"Are they all dead?" Deanna shouted.

Fidele walked into the room. He saw six vampires enter the hallway, two were killed in the hallway. Searching in the dark room he found four dead bodies. "Yes, they're all dead," he told her.

Deanna stood in the doorway, the wolf moved close to her. She brought her hand down and gently petted him.

"You did good, Hadwin, you did very good."

Touching the bracelet she declared, "Come back Josh, I need you."

She fell to the ground as the wolf began to change. Fidele ran to her. He knew what was wrong, she used to much magic, to much bad magic.

Minutes later the wolf changed back to Josh. Naked, and his clothes now rags in the hallway, Josh pulled on a pair of pants that hung on a coat rack in the room. They were big, but it was the best he could do for now. Rushing over to Deanna he quickly examined her. She seemed to be in a deep sleep.

"It's the magic," Fidele explained. "She just used to much."

Josh glanced to the side, he saw several bloody bodies in the darkness. "That all of them?"

"All that I saw, now let's go before anyone else stumbles into the drug store."

Josh lifted Deanna, his head spun as he began to walk out of the room. He bit his lip and carried her out of the room.

Minutes after they left the door to one of the lockers in the room opened. A head peeked out of the locker before exiting. Leaving the locker he stopped in front of the bloody bodies.

"Not worry, David," Afanas said. "Your death not go unanswered."

He stepped over the body of the human he found in the locker. He smelled him when he first entered the room. He was thankful that he was still there. They needed to see five bodies, and that was what they got. Afanas waited a few minutes more before exiting the room, just in case.

He quickly left the store. He had to report to Mother what had just happened. Then he would make a deal with her. When they captured that witch, he would get a part of the bounty. After all, he was the one who found her first.


	12. A Cure worse than the Disease

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Twelve

A Cure worse than the Disease

Josh struggled to concentrate as he drove Deanna back to the motel. Every breath he took was painful. Once he reached the motel Fidele had to help him carry Deanna into the room. He barely got her into her bed when he collapsed on the couch in the room. Fidele touched Josh's head, he was shocked to find he was burning hot.

"You changed, why didn't your wounds heal?" Fidel asked him.

"I don't know," Josh said. "Maybe it only happens with a full moon change, maybe the bracelet blocked it." He hugged his arms on his body, he was so cold he felt as if his heart was shaking. "I have no idea, Ffff..fidele," Josh stuttered. "I…ccc..an't think…" His head felt so light he closed his eyes and passed out.

Fidele looked from Deanna to Josh, shaking his head he said, "Sorry Deanna, but I can't do this alone."

Aidan blinked his eyes as the coffin lid was raised. He was unable to see, but hearing a familiar voice made him want to cry.

"Josh," he gasped.

Josh jumped into the coffin, he gently pulled Aidan out. "Aidan," Josh said. "Don't worry, we're getting you out of here."

Aidan felt his body lifted, two strong arms lifted him out of the grave. He was laid on someone's shoulder.

"Hurry," he heard Josh hiss. "We've got to get him out of here before Mother finds out."

Aidan was so weak, he couldn't lift his head, he hung loosely on the shoulder as he was carried away from his grave. Minutes later he was gently placed inside the backseat of a car.

"Let's go," Josh shouted as he slid in next to Aidan. He carefully examined Aidan, he now sported a full beard. His skin was so pale, and tight as a drum.

"How long?" Aidan choked.

"A year," Josh quickly answered.

"Was that all?" Aidan whispered.

"I'm sorry it took us so long to get you," Josh said. "Mother had a guard on you."

Aidan reached up, he patted Josh on the cheek. "I was never so happy to see that face," he sighed.

Josh laughed, "Sorry, can't say the same thing. You are a mess."

Aidan let his hand drop. "You get buried for a year…," he gulped, trying to wet his dry throat. "And see how you look."

"You got me there," Josh said with a grin.

Aidan closed his eyes, "Sally?" he asked Josh.

"Right here," Sally said. She was sitting in the front seat. "Hey Mister whisker, love the beard."

"Yeah," Josh said. "He kinda got that 'Joaquin Phoenix' look going."

Sally cocked her head, "You going to disappear on us for a year…oh wait, you did."

Aidan grinned, he was back with his friends. They saved him…he knew they would. "Where…where…" he tried to say, but his tongue was thick he just could not talk anymore.

"Relax," Josh said. "I bet you got a thirst for blood as big as Bill Gates check book." Josh proudly grinned, "We got a plan." He pointed up, "Tonight's a full moon. You can drink from me when I change."

"Yeah," Sally said. "Nothing better than Red-Wolf to give you the energy you need."

The car suddenly stopped, "We're here," Sally happily declared.

The back door opened and Aidan saw Randal. "Good to see you, Aidan." He pulled him out of the car. Looking up Aidan was surprised to see that he was already at the Carroll.

"Home sweet home," Randal said.

Josh and Sally ran ahead. Randal carried Aidan into The Carroll. He immediately noticed a huge change. There were lights in The Carroll. In fact it looked almost as good as the day he started working there. As he was carried up the stairs, he saw nurses and doctors walking by them. They seemed to ignore him as Randal carried him up the stairs to the second floor. Coming to a large room, Randal lay Aidan on a four poster bed.

Stepping back he checked his watch. "Almost time, Josh."

Josh let out a heavy sigh, "I'm ready."

Randal pulled on a heavy chain bolted to the floor. He locked an iron collar around Josh's neck. "Remember," he told Josh. "The more you hate your wolf, the stronger Aidan will be."

"Right," Josh said. "Hate my wolf, for Aidan."

Josh stepped up to the bed. Randal and Sally stood at the end. They waited for the change to begin. Minutes later Josh gasped and fisted his hands, the change was starting.

"Now, Aidan," Josh shouted. "Drink from me now."

Randal lifted Aidan up and placed him on Josh's back. Josh fought to stay kneeled on the ground so that Aidan could drink from him. Aidan could feel the bones on Josh's back moving, cracking. Opening his mouth Aidan plunged his teeth into Josh.

Josh moaned as Aidan took in a deep draw of blood. It was just as Aidan remembered, sooo sweet, sooo good. He could feel it going down his throat, into his stomach. He was so dry he could actually feel it going into his veins.

"Oh yes," Aidan slathered, his mouth covered in Josh's blood. "It's so delicious."

Tightly grabbing Josh he drank more, wanted more. It tasted so good he didn't want to stop.

Randal saw the signs on Josh for Aidan to stop. Grabbing his arms he tried to pull him off, but Aidan wouldn't stop drinking.

"No!" he snarled. "Not enough, I need more."

"You have to stop," Randal shouted. "You can't drink from the wolf."

Aidan was strong now, Josh's blood was flowing through his veins. He turned around and threw Randal across the room.

"Aidan," Sally screamed. "Stop, you'll die if you drink from the wolf."

He refused to listen, he had never felt a thirst like that before, and he never would again. Drinking from Josh, he felt so strong, so alive. He had to have more.

"Aidan," Josh moaned, "Please, you're hurting me." The pain of Aidan feeding on him was becoming stronger than the change. He could feel his fangs digging into his muscles, his bone. The pain was agonizing. He felt the wolf howling to come out, but it could not. Josh found himself stuck between changes, a wolf and not a wolf.

"Yes," Aidan slathered as he sucked the warm blood out of Josh. "More, give me more."

"Randal," Josh shouted. "Help me."

But he could not hear Josh, he lay unconscious on the floor. Just when it seemed Aidan would suck the very life out of him, he stopped. He flung Josh away, rolling Josh stopped where the chain was anchored to the floor.

Sally could see that Josh's change was stopped by Aidan's feeding. He had stubby fingers on his paws, his face, the nose had just started growing. He had one eye that was the wolfs, the other was Josh's.

Sally now saw a change in Aidan. His teeth grew longer and longer, his back arched. He began to scream in agony as he began to change.

"Oh my god," Sally said. "The blood, it's making him change into a wolf."

Josh looked up, he saw Aidan change. His nose did not grow as long as a wolfs, but it was not human. His canines grew sharp and long. His nails grew to sharp claws. He was still a vampire, but was now part wolf. His eyes, they stared at Josh with hunger, lust. Laying his head back he released a howl.

Sally ran to Randal, "Randal, wake up. Something's gone wrong, you need to wake up."

But she was to late. Josh saw Aidan lunge at him, he tried to run but the chain stopped him. He screamed in agony as Aidan raked his claws on his back. Falling to the ground he tried to protect himself, but he was to weak and Aidan was to strong.  
Aidan had never felt so strong in his life. He never felt so alive! He didn't just want Josh's blood now, he wanted all of him. He had to have it all.

Josh tried to fight off Aidan's attack, but he was weakened by the blood loss. Aidan growled, and snarled at him as he slashed deep into his arms. Holding his hands up Josh closed his eyes and shouted, "No Aidan, it's me, Josh. Please stop….please stop…."

He faintly heard Randal say over Aidan's growls, "Josh, it's all right. Open your eyes."

He didn't want to open his eyes, he would see Aidan again. "Josh," he heard Nora say. "I'm here."

Nora, he heard Nora. She was in danger! Opening his eyes he couldn't believe it, Nora was there. He also saw Randal and Cecil standing next to her. Looking around he saw Fidele. Deanna was lying on the bed. He was back in the motel.

"A dream," Josh sighed. "It was all a dream."

"I'm here," Nora told Josh. "I'm here, darling, rest."

Smiling, Josh lay back, he was safe, he was finally safe.

Nora immediately pulled her jacket off. She was tired, it took them nine hours of driving to get there. Opening the door to the motel room, she saw Josh in a state that nearly stopped her heart. He was ranting, delirious.

Randal shook his head as he saw the condition Josh was in. "You were right to call me, Fidele."

"Randal, how did you find me?" Josh softly said. "Fidele erased your phone number from my..."

"Josh, Fidele and I go back a long way," Randal explained.

"Way back," Fidele said. "I haven't been truthful with you, Josh. You see I recognized Randal that first night after we left Deanna's place, it was on my reconnaissance flight. I saw him with a wolf and ghost. I listened in on their conversation, found out that they were looking for you. That's why I had to blank out your iphone, I couldn't risk you getting in touch with Randal."

Fidele looked at Deanna. "If Deanna found out that Randal was your friend, she would have taken us back to the cottage. I don't want to go back," Fidele whined. "I like it out here, she hasn't been out of the cabin in nearly a hundred years. This is the most fun I've had in decades"

He looked worriedly at Deanna, then at Josh. "But after what happened in the drug store, I realized that I couldn't take care of the both of you. I didn't know what else to do. I figured Randal was the best one to call, he wouldn't turn us into Mother."

"Fidele," Randal said. "You couldn't have called for a more qualified person. Nora is a nurse."

"Then I did good?" Fidele asked.

"You did very good," Randal said.

Nora began to examine Josh. "My legs," Josh told her. "Edema…infections." Pulling the blanket off she could see where the fever came from. The puncture wounds on his legs were festering. Touching them, she felt how hot they were.

"Oh Josh," she said, but he did not answer her. He had fallen back to sleep. She knew that was the best thing for him right now. "For once a full moon would be a good thing for him. Those wounds would heal quicker."

"The full moon isn't due for at least a week," Randal said. "I don't think he will last that long."

"You're right," Nora said, she threw the heavy blanket aside. "This is going to make his fever worse." She looked at Fidele, "I need ice, lots of it to help bring down the fever." When Fidele stared at her, she shouted, "NOW!"

"Wow," Fidele said. "Forceful little nurse-wolf." He snapped his heels, "Aye, aye, Mine Capitan." Grabbing the ice bucket, he swiftly left the room.

Cecil stood next to the couch, "He looks like he was put through a grinder."

Nora gently began to examine him, she saw him flinch when she touched his ribs. "Cracked ribs, septic wounds on legs, high fever, your diagnosis is about right, Cecil."

She quickly pulled out two vials from her purse. "When Fidele told Randal what happened to Josh, I knew he would be needing these." She held two bottles in her hands. "Augmentin for the infection and Chlorhexidine, it's a powerful antiseptic for the festering wounds."

Fidele came into the room carrying a bucket full of ice. "Special delivery from the North Pole," he declared. Nora took the bucket from him. It was then that she noticed that he had purple eyes. Randal told her about him on the way to the motel. He said that he looked like a young boy, but was really a very ancient supernatural being.

"Thank you, Fidele," she said, "For looking after him."

"He would have done the same for me, we're practically cousins." Nora gasped in shock as he changed into a small dog, then a wolf. The wolf morphed into a large raven. Each time Nora saw his eyes remained purple

"Show off," Randal said.

Changing back to a boy, he looked with concern at Josh. "Just make him and Deanna better."

Nora slightly nodded her head, "I'm going to try my best."

While Nora attended to Josh, Randal walked over to where Deanna slept. "She looks so…old."

Fidele stood next to Randal, his small hand reached out and touched her hand. "She used a lot of magic to save Josh, even used some dark magic, not a good thing." He gently stroked her hand. "Magic, it comes from within." He haltingly sighed, "She's so old Randal, I'm not sure if she'll be able to recover."

"She will," Randal said, "If I have something to say about it, she will."


	13. A Deal with Interest

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Thirteen

A Deal with Interest

The next two days Nora and Randal spent looking after Josh and Deanna. For Nora, Josh was actually the easy one, it was Deanna that she just did not know exactly what was wrong with her. It was clear she was in some kind of coma, or trance. For now they kept her comfortable.

Looking at the clock Nora saw it change to 7:25 A.M.. She was resting in a recliner chair, Randal was sitting next to Deanna's bed, Cecil was watching TV with Fidele. She stared out the big bay window in the room. The sun had risen almost half an hour ago. She heard her stomach rumble, she hadn't eaten much in the past few days, she spent most of them taking care of Josh.

"You need something to eat," she heard someone softly say. Turning around she smiled as she saw Josh looking up at her. He grinned at her, he looked so much better than when she first saw him.

Getting out of the chair, she sat down on the floor next to him. She placed her hand on his forehead. She sighed in relief, "It finally broke." His head felt cool, the burning fever was gone. She took his hand and pressed it on her cheek. "I thought I lost you."

His other hand moved under her chin, raising her head he said, "Me too."

He pointed to Deanna. "How is she?"

"Not sure," Randal said. "She seems to be in a coma. Fidele said its normal for her, so we're just keeping an eye on her. So far she hasn't gotten any worse, but she's also not any better."

Nora saw the bracelet on Josh's wrist gleam in the morning sun. "So," Nora said, "Where did you get the fancy bracelet?" She squinted her eye, "Gift from a rival?"

Josh held his hand up, he moved it in the sunlight. "The bracelet," Josh softly said. "That is a long story."

Nora sat down, "The room is paid for until the end of the week, you're staying on that couch until you're better, so we have time."

Taking in a deep breath, Josh told Nora all that had happened to him since he locked her up in the cemetery. Nora listened intensely. Cecil and Randal also listened. When Josh was done, Nora stared at the bracelet with horror.

"Josh," she said. "We need to get that thing off of you."

Josh slowly shook his head, "That's at the bottom of my list of things to do, Nora. Aidan is at the top." It was then that Josh noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Sally?"  
Randal cleared his throat, "I guess it's our turn to bring you up to date."

"We stopped by the house," Nora said. "Looking for her, we couldn't find her. Before we left we heard something, on the radio."

"What did you hear?" Josh asked her.

"Sally," Cecil said. "I swear we heard Sally on the radio. It was playing a song that June liked. Within the song, in the static we faintly heard her voice."

"Her mother appeared at the house," Nora explained. "She told us, well she said Sally asked her mother to shred her, so she could go to limbo. She said she was crazy, talking to someone that wasn't there."

"Scott," Josh whispered. "I thought he was gone."

"Well according to her mother, he wasn't. Sally told her she had to fix things, make them right. Then she…well this was hard to believe. Josh, she shredded herself."

Josh closed his eyes, he knew how guilty she felt when she found out how many spirits she shredded. Especially Stevie and Nick, but he never thought she would go that far.

"What else did you hear?"

"She said she was trapped in limbo, in the house," Randal said. "If that makes any sense. She was there, but not there. She also said that there are things with her. Things that rip her and the others to shreds."

Nora wiped the tears from her eyes. "We heard her cries of pain Josh. It's something I'll never forget. She can't leave the house, she's trapped there. Josh, she sounded so frightened."

Josh lay his head back, "How are we going to get her out of there?"

"We can worry about that later," Nora said. "You need to rest."

"Yes," Josh heard Deanna said. "But I've rested long enough."

All of them turned around, they saw Deanna standing next to the bed. Her eyes were clear, she stared at them with a determination.

"I heard what you said," she told Josh. "In the store, you lied to protect me."

Josh realized she must have heard what he told Afanas. "I couldn't have him take us both."

Deanna shook her head, "When you first came, you fought me so. I thought I could change you." She gently smiled at him, "But it was you that changed me."

Josh didn't know what to say, she seemed different. He was about to say something when Randal's iphone softly rang. Looking at it, his eyes grew wide in alarm, "It's Mother."

Moving to a corner, he took the call. They all silently watched him as he spoke on the phone. Minute's later he ended the call. Nervously running his hand through his hair, he cleared his throat.

"That was Mother," he explained.

"We got that part," Josh said. "What did she say?"

"Well it appears that more vampires will be out hunting for you, she just upped the bounty to $100,000 dollars."

"Wow," Josh sat back. "For that much I'd turn myself in."

"Why did she raise it?" Cecil said.

"Apparently someone told her that the rumors were true, Mother's shadow is connected to Aidan's wolf. She was seen using her magic to protect him. I don't know how guys, but someone survived that little skirmish you had in the drug store."

"That's not possible," Fidele said. "I saw four vampires enter that lunchroom. I counted four bodies before we left."

"Ralph," Josh said.

"Kramden?" Fidele said. "I love that show, 'To the moon, Alice!'"

"No!" Josh said. "Ralph, the human I found in the lunchroom. I knocked him out and put him in one of the lockers. Fidele, do you remember the bodies you saw on that lunchroom floor?"

Fidele nervously played with his fingers, "Well, I only took a quick look. Let's see, I saw the head of a woman, and a black guy, and some guy with a really bad hair cut."

"What about Afanas, did you see the head of Afanas? He's very pale, and blonde."

Fidele tried to recall what he saw. "The fourth body was in the dark, he was lying on his stomach."

"Was he wearing black leather?" Josh said.

Fidele shook his head, "No, no black leather on any of the bodies I saw."

"Afanas," Josh said. "That son of a bitch survived. He must have found Ralph in the locker and switched places with him."

"I'm sorry," Josh said to Deanna. "I never should have gone into that store. Mother now knows you're out here and not safely hidden in your cottage."

Deanna took in a deep breath. "I've decided to help you find your friends."

Josh struggled to sit up on the couch. Nora tried to hold him down, but he was very insistent. "Didn't you hear him?" He shouted, a bit louder than he intended. "She's got her stupid ugly goons looking for you. No offense, Randal."

"None taken," Randal quickly returned.

"Hey," Fidele said, "He's not stupid."

"I heard," Deanna said, "But I also can see. In the past few months I have seen things I would never have imagined possible. I've seen a wolf that says his best friend is a vampire. I saw ghost's helping vampires, wolfs helping ghosts." She shook her head, "My, my, if only my sisters had lived long enough to be here. I'm sure they would have a hard time believing as I did, in the beginning."

Deanna walked up to Josh, "I'm old Josh, and I'm also so very tired. I have fought Mother for so long, it consumed me."  
"I always told you to get out more," Fidele said.

"Yes, my friend, and I did not listen to you. It took a love sick wolf to open my eyes."

"Wait I minute, I know you, Deanna," Randal said. "You're not about to turn your back on fighting Mother to help Josh get in touch with his friends." A knowing smile parted his lips. "I see, a deal with interest. If you help us get Aidan out of that grave, he'll be in your debt. A debt paid perhaps by helping you kill Mother?"

"Now that sounds like the Deanna I know," Fidele said.

"I will not lie," Deanna said. "In return for my help, I ask that you help me finish what I started." She pointed to a leather bag. "There is something in there that I need to finish, once done I will have the power to help you finally destroy Mother. That is all I ask, besides, I know what it is like to have someone that is close to you in danger." She looked at Fidele. "I can't imagine how I would feel if he was missing and I could not find him."

"Don't worry about that, Deanna," Fidele said. "I'm not going anywhere."

Randal looked to his companions, each nodded their consent. "It's a deal," Randal said.

"What about the bracelet?" Nora dared to ask. Josh tried to hush her, but she had to ask.

Deanna held her arm up, "The bracelet, my dear, has very ancient magic. As I told Josh when I first put it on, only death will remove it. I'm sorry, but it stays."

"We'll worry about that later," Josh said, throwing Nora a look to drop it. He knew what Deanna was capable of, he didn't want the woman that he loved getting on the bad side of the witch that pulled all his strings.

"As soon as Josh is well enough," Randal said. "I think we should get Aidan out of that hole in the ground."

"We can go now," Josh said. "Guys, I'm feeling much better." He tried to stand but immediately felt as if his head was floating above his body. Sitting down hard he said, "Maybe now is not a good time."

"Yes," Nora said. "I'm the nurse, and I'll tell you when you're ready."

Fidele winked at Josh, "Really like your Nurse-wolf, she's a keeper."

"Yes," Josh said, as she helped him lay back on the couch. "She's a keeper."

Leaning down, she kissed him on the lips, "Rest now, fight vampires later."

"Sounds like a plan," Cecil said.

Josh had to admit she was right, he was still weak from his bout with the fever. He lay his head down, he grinned when he saw Deanna talking to Randal and Cecil. She spoke to them as if they were friends. Sighing, he closed his eyes. He had to rest, had to get better. The sooner he got better the sooner they could free Aidan from his coffin and Sally from whatever hell she was trapped.

Closing his eyes, he tried to think of what he was going to say to Aidan once they freed him from his dirt prison. As sleep began to seep in, his last thoughts was of seeing Aidan and Sally together in their home, laughing about what happened to them, and toasting the death of Mother.


	14. Violent Lives, Violent Deaths

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Fourteen

Violent Lives, Violent Deaths

Josh stood behind a tree next to Randal, they were up on a small hill. Looking down they could see four figures standing in the darkness.

Randal raised his head, he took in a deep breath. "We're upwind, they shouldn't be able to smell you and Nora from here."

"Smell us?" Nora whispered to Josh. She was standing behind him.

"One of the bad sides of being a wolf," Josh explained. "Apparently to a vampire we smell like…" Josh pointed to Randal who said, "A wet dog…that's been dead about a month."

Cecil pointed behind the vampires. "That's where they buried Aidan."

It had been nearly a year since Randal was last here. Cecil tried many times to visit Aidan, but he was unable to get near him. Cecil pointed to the left, they saw two men posted on the outside of the graveyard. One of them was stick thin, the other was medium build, and they could see he wore a ratty looking red scarf on his head.

Nora noticed the thin one seemed to melt right into the ground. "I don't how she did it," Cecil said. "But Mother has ghosts guarding Aidan's grave too. I can't get anywhere near it."

Moving back, they walked down the hill and joined Deanna and Fidele. Deanna closed her eyes, "Yes," she said. "I can feel the ghosts from here. They are dark wretched things. They all died violent deaths. Mother has used them before. She gives them empty promises of giving them back their former lives. Of course she could never keep those promises. Only a witch can truly bring back something that is dead."

Randal patted the handles of two shovels he brought with them. "If we all follow the plan we'll able to get Aidan out of there without Mother knowing what happened."

Deanna stepped up to Josh, she pulled out a small charm from a worn leather purse. Josh saw a tiny statue of a black dog. Looking very serious, she placed it in his pocket. "Remember, when I told you there are dark things in this world, things that you have not seen even in your worst nightmares? This is one of them. Since the time of my sisters, we have called upon the Gwyllgi to protect us. This charm is ancient, it holds powerful magic, Josh. Listen carefully, only if you are in great danger are you to use it. Hold it tight in your hands and call its name. If you do have to use it, pray that he will be in a good mood."

"Thank you, I think," Josh said. He saw a change in her the past few weeks. She seemed to have a spring in her step now that she knew her quest to end Mother's life was not a lonely one.

Randal stared at the large burlap sack that hung on Deanna's shoulder. She had them stop by a cemetery before coming here. When she came back to the car Fidele was covered in dirt and Deanna held a full sack that smelled like earth. "You sure what you got in there will stop the ghosts?"

Deanna patted the sack, "Do not worry about me, what I have in here will take care of any ghost." Seeing fear in Cecil's eyes she said, "Never fear, the spells I have planned are not meant for you."

"Thank you," Cecil said. He had no idea what her magic could do to him, and he didn't want to find out.

Randal looked at Fidele, "We want to do this as quickly as possible. We can't let the ghosts get away and warn Mother." He stared directly at Fidele. "Don't be playing any of your tricks tonight, Fidele. We need you to keep to the plan, promise?"

Fidele feigned looking hurt, "Randal, the mere thought of contemplating it never even desired to enter my mind." Crossing his heart he said, "I swear on the Goddess that I will do as you say, _'stick to the plan'_."

Josh looked behind Fidele's back, "Just checking to see if he's crossing his fingers."

Fidele held his hands up and wiggled his fingers, "No finger crossing, but when this is done, be warned. I am going to play the biggest whopper on all of you. Wish me luck, guys." He instantly changed into a small dog. He happily ran down into the forest towards the two ghosts. Deanna followed him.

"Let's go," Randal said. "We need to get in position." He looked at Josh, "You ready for this?"

Josh shrugged his shoulders, "Ready as I'll ever be." Giving Nora a kiss goodbye, he silently moved closer to the vampires guarding Aidan's grave. Getting into position, he waited for Randal to make the first move.

Randal made sure to approach the vampires guarding Aidan's grave from the opposite direction that Josh was hidden. Nora and Cecil nervously waited at the top of the hill. Josh checked to make sure his Bluetooth was firmly planted in his ear.

"I'm almost there," he heard Randal say. He was using his iphone to let him know when to be ready. Wiping his sweaty palms on his pants he thought, _"I can do this, it's for Aidan, I have to do this right."_

Randal slowly approached Aidan's grave. The vampires there immediately noticed him coming. "Randal," one of them shouted. Short and stocky, he carefully eyed Randal. "What are you doing here?"

"Myles, good to see you." He stopped next to the vampire. "Don't worry, Mother didn't send me to check on you." He pointed to the forest. "I heard of a sighting of Aidan's wolf. Someone said he was near here. I've been searching the forest, so far no sign of him."

"Don't worry," Miles said. "He won't get anywhere near Aidan's grave."

Randal half grinned, "I never doubted that. Well if you'll excuse me, I'll continue with the hunt."

As he quickly walked away, he glanced at the grave where he knew Aidan was buried. He wished he could somehow let him know that they were there to save him. For now he had to continue with their plan and hope it worked.

Once Randal left the cemetery, one of the vampires poked Myles in the ribs. "You heard what he said?"

"Yeah Drew, I heard, Aidan's wolf is nearby."

"Not just that, I heard that Mother upped the bounty on him." Glancing at the two fair-haired vampires standing several yards from them he whispered, "She raised it to $100,000, that's a lot of money for a stinking dog."

Miles looked at the other two vampires, he saw them whispering to each other.

"I bet Iggie and Innis are talking about that bounty," Drew hissed,

"Doesn't matter," Miles sniffed. "You need his dog to cash in that bounty. We can't go looking for him, Mother ordered us to guard Aidan's grave. She'll strip our skin off if we left to go looking for a wolf."

Drew took in a deep breath, "Man, I've never had any good luck. Finding that dog would really make my year."

Randal quickly returned to where Nora was waiting for him. As he strapped the two shovels on his back, he told Josh, "Seed planted, time for Operation Swifty to begin."

"Swifty?" Josh whispered. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I'll tell you next time I see you," Randal said. "Now go."

Grumbling Josh slowly moved forward until he could feel the wind blowing from his left. The wind was moving in the direction of the vampires. He pressed his Bluetooth in his ear and waited.

Once Josh got into position it didn't take long. Randal saw Miles and Drew's head perk up.

"Miles," Drew hissed. "You smell that?"

Miles took in a deep breath, his nose crinkled. "Dog, I smell dog."

"You think it's Aidan's dog?"

Miles looked at Iggie and Innis, they were looking at them. He saw them slowly begin to make their way to the forest.

"Come on Miles," Drew pleaded. "I shouldn't take us long. Isn't this why we're here? To keep that mutt away from Aidan." Skipping back towards the forest he beckoned him, "Come on Miles." He pointed to Iggie and Innis, they were almost at the forest. "Let's go, once we get him we won't have to be stuck out here guarding a mound of dirt."

That was all Miles needed to hear, he practically flew towards the forest. That $100,000 was as good as his.

"RUN!" Josh heard Randal say on his Bluetooth. That was all Josh needed to hear. Spinning around he sprinted into the forest. Randal, Cecil and Nora ran down the hill, they had to get into position.

The two ghosts standing near Aidan's grave silently watched as the four vampires suddenly ran into the forest.

The thin one nervously shifted from one foot to the other. "Hey, Axel, what do you think got into them?"

"Don't know, Skelly, don't care," Axel replied. Adjusting his red scarf, he spit on the ground. "We got our orders to stay 'ere, an' 'ere we're bloody well stayin'."

Skelly kicked at a tombstone, his leg passed through it. "You know I hate when you call me that."

"Don't blame me, blame your bleedin' mum."

"That's why I killed her," Skelly said.

Skelly listened carefully for any sound coming from the forest. He was really curious as to why they left. His head jerked around when he heard something else behind him. It was the barking of a dog. He saw a small black dog running towards them. Stopping just a few feet in front of them, he sat down and barked at them. His tail was wagging happily.

"Look a puppy," Skelly said. "I always liked puppies."

"Yeah, but you liked woman more didn't ya," Axel pulled his finger across his neck. "Liked 'em six feet under."

"Just the ones that looked like my mother," Skelly growled. He smiled when he looked at the dog. "But puppies, they always liked me. I had one when I was alive. They're so smart, this one can see us."

"Course they can," Axel said, "Most animals can."

"Come here boy," Skelly cooed. The dog sat on his hind legs, putting his paws together he waved them up and down.

"Look at this," Skelly told Axel. He laughed when the dog fell to the ground and rolled over. "This is a smart dog, sure wish I had one like this when I was a boy."

Skelly jumped when he heard an old woman shouting, "Fidele, where the blazes are you?"

"Sounds like the owner," Axel said. Grinning wickedly he said, "Let's 'ave some fun with 'er."

They moved closer to the dog. They saw an old woman limping out of the forest. She used an old wooden cane to walk. Spying the dog, she came closer.

"Fidele, you scalawag, where the hell have you been? I told you not to come by this cemetery, don't want you bringing me someone's chin bone again."

Fidele lay on his back, Skelly saw the old woman scold him with her finger. "Don't you be showing me your belly, you're a very bad dog."

"Watch this," Axel said. Moving closer to the old woman, he kicked her cane. Losing her support she nearly fell down.

Skelly bent over laughing. "That was a good one."

"You try somethin'," Axel urged him. "The old bitch can't see us."

Skelly walked over to stand by the old woman. Her eyes were wide open with fright. "I told you not to come here, Fidele," she hissed. "I heard tell that it was haunted."

Skelly saw a small bag hanging on her hip. He reached over to grab it. Suddenly the old woman's hands lashed out, her boney fingers gripped both Axel's and Skelly's wrist. Her eyes stared at them, they were so dark, so bottomless. Skelly heard her softly humming.

Axel fought to be released from her grip, but she held them tightly. Immediately they saw the dog turn into a small boy. He was grinning from ear to ear.

Fidele skipped around them, "Second mistake you guys made was to call her an old bitch."

Axel and Skelly tried to free themselves from her grip, but they just could not. "Wot the bloody 'ell was the first mistake?" Axel shouted.

Stopping in front of Axel, he said, "Not realizing that she's a witch."

Fidele stepped back. Deanna's grip on them grew tighter. No matter how hard they fought they could not free themselves. Letting her head drop forward she began humming. Both Skelly and Axel could hear her voice vibrating inside them.

"Fidele," Deanna said. "It's time, the bones."

Fidele pulled off the sack that Deanna carried. He threw its contents on the ground. It was a mixture of human bones. Deanna stared down at the bones, she began to chant a spell.

_"Violent lives, violent death. _

_Justice failed, judgment evaded_

_ Broken bones, heed my spell_

_ Bind within this magistrate_

_Send them to their resting place"_

The bones on the ground began to jump and move towards the two ghosts. One of them touched Skelly, he screamed in agony. He felt it sucking him inside. Deanna held him tight as the ghost was being pulled into the bone.

Seeing what was happening to Skelly, Axel fought a hundred times harder. He saw the boy grinning at him, he kicked one of the bones at him. It touched him in the chest. He arched his back, he never felt pain like this when he was alive. He squirmed and fought Deanna's grip on him, but she would not let go.

She held onto them until there was nothing left but an arm. She released her hold and saw what was left of the two ghosts sucked into the dry bones. Picking up a bone, she smelled it. "You did good Fidele, the bones of a law man, fitting."

Fidele stared at her, "You all right, Deanna?" He saw her use dark magic, something that she rarely did without consequence.

"I'm fine, you need not worry about me." She pointed to the grave. "I think we should start things, don't you?"

Fidele immediately turned into a wolf. Walking up to the grave Aidan was buried in, he began digging. Deanna leaned against a tombstone. Her eyes searched out into the forest. She prayed that Josh and the others faired as well as they did.


	15. Little Brother

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Fifteen

Little Brother

Josh sprinted across the leaf-covered ground. He needed to get to the designated spot before the vampires caught up with him. He stared ahead, Randal described to him what to look for. Spying a fallen tree next to a stump to his right, he quickly ran around it and went down a small hill.

He now moved through a thicker growth of trees. He had to duck and swerve to avoid low branches. He had been running at full speed for several minutes now, he was about to look back when he heard someone shouting from behind.

"Hey, I think he's over here."

Josh stumbled, that was way to close! He stared ahead, he had to find a tree split by a lightening strike. Randal told him, once he saw it to turn left. Then he would only be a few minutes from where they set their trap.

He blinked his eyes, it was very dark here, it was hard to see anything, let alone a blackened tree. He knew he should have seen it by now. Stopping, he wondered if he may have passed it.

He jumped when he heard Randal shout in his Bluetooth, "Where the hell are you?" just as Cecil suddenly appeared in front of him.

"I know, got to work on my landings," Cecil said.

Josh hissed into his Bluetooth, "I have no idea."

Seeing a movement coming from behind, Josh whispered, "Gotta go." He spun around and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Cecil was right by his side.

"Damn it," he cursed. "I'm lost, Randal. I'm just a city boy, the only time I come out to the forest is when I change."

"Try circling back," Cecil suggested.

Moving to his right, he ran back the way he came. Cecil went ahead, Josh stopped when he saw Cecil running back.

"Not an option, not an option," Cecil shouted. "Bad guy's twelve o'clock."

Turning around Josh now began running for his life. He could hear them behind him, calling out to him.

"Here doggie, doggie, there's a good boy," one of them shouted.

He suddenly came to a clearing, a large overgrown building stood at the far end. From the looks of it, it had been boarded up decades ago.

"Found a building, Randal." He waited for a reply. Tapping his Bluetooth he heard only static. "Perfect," Josh said. "I'm going to die in a dead zone." He sprinted towards the old building. He saw faded letters that read, _"Johnston's Flour Mill."_

"It looks like a good place to hide," Josh panted.

"I'll go get Randal," Cecil said. "Hopefully you can hide in there long enough until I can get him over here." As Cecil disappeared, Josh ran around the building, hoping to find a way in. Spying a rotting board he kicked it, cracking it in half. The hole was large enough for him to get inside the building.

Getting on his hands and knees he crawled into the building. It was dark and dusty. It looked as if no one had been in there for over fifty years. He searched each room, he found what he guessed was the packing room. A large wooden table sat at its center. Broken chairs and empty burlap sacks were strewn about. Going to one of the boarded windows, he peeked through the wooden slats.

He saw two vampires standing outside of the building. Both fair-haired, their heads were tilted back, he could practically hear them breathing in from where he sat.

"We can smell you doggie," Iggie said. "You can't hide from us. Come out now and we promise we won't hurt you…much." Iggie said with a giggle.

Josh saw two more vampires bolt from the forest, they stopped when they saw the fair-haired vampires on the other side of the building. If there was a way for the plan to turn totally bad, this was it.

Josh began to search for any weapon he could use against the vampires. Spying several old chairs he kicked at their legs, breaking them off he had at least four wooden stakes. Gripping them tightly he went back to the window. He was surprised to see that the vampires had not moved. In fact they seemed more concerned about fighting with each other then finding him.

"Go away, we found him first," Iggie and Innis shouted.

"We saw him first," Miles countered, as he stepped closer.

"That mutt is ours," Innis said.

"You ain't getting a penny of that bounty. The dog is ours," Drew growled.

"Sometimes it's nice to feel wanted," Josh whispered. "But now is not that time." Josh couldn't believe it, they were not even trying to get him out of the building, they were arguing on who was going to get the bounty.

As they continued to argue, he realized that even if Randal did get here, these money hungry vampires was not going to allow him to walk away with Josh. He was trapped, cornered with no way out.

Then he remembered the charm Deanna gave him. He pulled it out of his pocket. "What did she call you? Gwey…gwilly….Gwyllgi," he whispered. As soon as he said the name he quickly dropped it, it became so hot it burned his hand. He jumped back as the small charm began to grow. It grew larger and larger until a black dog the size of a horse stood in front of him.

But this was no horse. He looked like a black mastiff, but his eyes were blazing red. His jowls pulled back, Josh had to hold his breath. The stench from this creature was horrific.

The four vampires stopped arguing when they heard a loud growl coming from within the building. "What the hell was that?" Iggie shouted.

"You can figure that out," Miles said as he ran toward the building, "We're getting that wolf out."

Josh stared at the large dog, his eyes locked with his. He dropped the stakes he made. He was never more frightened in his life. He slowly began to back up as the dog walked towards him. Hitting a wall he trembled as the dog's massive head moved forward until his nose was inches from his face. It took in a deep breath, sniffing him. Josh stood still, afraid to speak or even breathe. This massive dog could bite his head off in a split second.

The dog's nose wrinkled and he sneezed. Pulling his head back, Josh heard a deep voice say inside his head, _"Little brother."_

The dogs head jerked to the side, a deep growl rumbled from his throat. His lips pulled back revealing yellowed teeth and pitch black gums. Josh immediately brought his arms up to cover his face as the giant black dog jumped towards a boarded up window. The old wood splintered, it flew everywhere as the dog leaped through the window.

Josh quickly used his arms to wipe his face. "Really," he moaned, "Giant dog spit, what else can happen?"

Landing hard outside, Gwyllgi's head slowly moved back and forth. The four vampires froze where they stood.

"That is one big, black dog." Innis whispered.

"What are we going to do, Miles?" Drew softly said.

Before Miles could reply Iggie turned and ran towards the forest. Gwyllgi was on him in a flash. Miles watched in horror as he saw Iggie torn into shreds literally in seconds.

His teeth now covered in blood, Gwyllgi's massive head turned. He snapped at Innis, his whole body shook in terror. Babbling he tried to run away, the dog was on him with one leap. His massive jowls easily tore the vampire in half.

Miles realized that this creature was powerful enough to kill him in a wink of an eye. While it was busy killing Innis, Miles ran to the shack. Drew was right behind him. They leaped through the giant hole in the window and into the mill. Rolling on the floor Miles saw Josh cowering in the shadows.

"Well," Miles said. "That thing outside thinned out the herd." Josh lunged for the stakes he dropped, but Miles was quicker. He was on him before he could reach them. He grabbed Josh's arm and shook him like a child.

"Like I said, I'm getting that reward."

Drew stood up, standing next to the window his eyes turned black. "Who's getting it?"

Josh hoped he was about to see the vampires battle it out for him, that would give Randal enough time to find the factory, but that never happened. Drew's eyes popped open wide, his mouth opened, but no sound came out. Slowly he moved towards the window. It was then that Josh saw four claws sticking out of the vampires chest. He was pulled through the broken window, the sound of crunching bones drifted in from outside.

Miles stared at the window, he saw two red eyes looking in. He weakly pulled Josh to stand in front on him as the giant dog leapt through the window. Slowly it began to walk towards him. Miles head jerked back and forth, he tried to find someway of escaping the same fate as his companions.

Once the dog was close enough, he threw Josh at him and ran out of the room. Josh stumbled forward, the dog's head pushed him to the side and ran after Miles. Stunned Josh shook his head, that was the second time the dog could have killed him, but didn't. He ran out of the room, he heard Miles running. His footsteps on the old wooden floors echoed in the abandoned building.

Josh stopped when he heard a scream, then silence. Close to a full moon, Josh could smell fresh blood, Miles blood. He followed the scent, he saw Miles lying on an old milling stone. Gwyllgi's muzzle was inside Miles ribcage. His dead eyes stared at Josh. The large dog pulled his head up, his huge jaw opened. Miles head easily fit inside. Josh closed his eyes, he heard a snap, then a crack.

Opening his eyes he saw a headless body lying on the stone. Gwyllgi's bright red eyes stared at him. He slowly walked up to Josh. His head tilted curiously from one side to the other. His huge paw moved up, it gently touched Josh on the chest.

"_Do not hate him, little brother,"_ Josh heard the dog say within his mind. _"For he does not hate you." _His jowls pulled back to resemble a large grin. His teeth and chin was dripping with blood._ "I thank you for the meal, it was most delicious. Take care little brother, we may meet again."_

Trembling, Josh watched the dog turn around. He followed it as it walked back to the packing room. Gwyllgi quickly jumped out the window and ran into the forest. The mill was quiet now, all Josh could hear was his heavy breathing. For the life of him, he just could not get his hands to stop trembling.

"Th…that was close," he whispered to himself. "To close. Josh Levison, your guardian angel really earned his pay tonight."

He jumped when he heard his name called from outside the building. He ran to the window. He was never so happy than to see Randal appear on the other side of the window. Panting hard, Randal pointed behind.

"We found three bodies torn to pieces out there. Did you do that?"

Josh shook his head, "Nope that was my big brother."

Randal looked back at the shredded bodies. "You'll have to introduce me sometime." Randal peeked inside the house, "What about the other one?"

"No need to worry about him warning Mother," Josh said. "That's hard to do without a head, or arms, or legs."

Randal smiled proudly. "Well, Operation Swifty didn't work like we planed but it ended the same."

"And why exactly did you call it that?" Josh said.

As he helped Josh climb out of the window, he explained. "Swifty, that's the name they give to the artificial rabbits for greyhound racing." Winking at him he said, "You made one helluva rabbit."

As his feet hit the ground, Josh twitched. "I don't think the wolf likes being called a rabbit, you may not want to be around next time I change."

Josh grunted as Nora slammed into him, hugging him tight, "Josh, are you all right?"

Josh hugged her back, having her near him helped calm down the shaking. "I'm fine, just gave my heart a real work out there."

"Me too," she whispered in his ear.

"Well if I had a heart, it would have just won the triple crown," Cecil said. "I can't believe you got out of that alive."

"I think that was enough excitement for tonight," Josh said. "Let's get Aidan out of that hole in the ground."

Josh hugged Nora close to him as they walked back. He could still feel his heart shaking inside his body. That creature, it was powerful, it could have killed him without even thinking about it. Vampires, werewolves and ghosts, he only recently began to accept them, now this? As much as he was exposed to the supernatural world, he now realized it was just the tip of the iceberg. He wondered what other horrors lie out there, waiting to come alive.


	16. Old, New Friends

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Sixteen

Old, New Friends

As soon as Josh saw Deanna, he knew he was close to Aidan's grave. As he sprinted to her, he saw a wolf digging in the dirt. Once they reached the grave, the wolf changed into a small boy.

"Harvey, it's about time," Fidele said. "I thought I'd start things."

"You told him about Swifty," Josh growled to Randal.

"Who do you think gave me the idea?" Randal replied.

Randal pulled out the two shovels he had strapped to his back. Handing one to Josh they began digging. The dirt had turned hard in the past year. It took nearly an hour of digging before they heard the clunk of metal on wood.

Falling to his knees Josh dug with his fingers exposing the top of the coffin. Randal used the shovel to pry open the coffin. Jumping out of the grave, he allowed Josh to open the coffin. He knew Aidan would be in rough shape, he needed to see a familiar face.

Josh pulled the coffin's lid open, its hinges squeaked and moaned as he pushed it to the side. His heart sunk when he saw Aidan. He was in terrible shape. He now wore a full beard, his cheeks were sunken, his skin was pale and thin. At first Josh wondered if he was even alive, his eyes closed he appeared to be dead.

"Aidan," Josh blurted out. "Aidan, it's me, Josh."

At first he received no response, then he saw Aidan's eyes flutter. Slowly they opened, looking up he saw Josh. Closing his eyes he choked, "Stop haunting me, go away."

"Aidan, no," Josh said. "It's me, I'm so sorry Aidan. I'm sorry it took me so long to find you."

His head bent down, Josh felt sick. He never imagined he would look this bad. A small tear fell down his cheek and on Aidan's face. Aidan opened his eyes, he felt that, he actually felt the tear hit his face. Reaching up, he touched Josh's chest.

"Josh," he croaked, "Is that really you?"

"Yes," Josh said, wiping the tears from his face. "It's me Aidan, I'm here, and so is Nora, Randal and Cecil. I even have some old new friends."

Aidan began to shake, the hunger inside him was so strong, the scent of Josh overwhelmed him. Even knowing that his blood would make him sick he growled, "I…I am soooo hungry."

"Don't worry," Josh said. "We got that covered." Nora pulled out a red bag from her purse and threw it to Josh. Squatting down he placed the mouth of the bag on Aidan's lips.

"Slowly at first," Randal warned him. "To much and he'll get sick."

Josh squeezed the bag, the crimson liquid from the bag oozed out onto Aidan's lips. Aidan licked his lips, at first it tasted so good, then he frowned.

"What was tha…?" he began to say.

"A stag deer," Randal said. "We took two pints from him on the way. He was young and strong, the best thing for you right now, Aidan."

Deep inside Aidan a voice screamed, "I wanted human blood!" But Aidan immediately pushed those thoughts away. He was alive, he had no idea how long he was buried but he survived. He felt Josh put several more drops of the deer's blood on his lips. Licking it, he began to drift off. He was safe, his friend found him. He fell asleep, this time he allowed it to come. For he knew when he woke up he'd be safe with his friend.

Aidan felt something strange, it was not the hard wood of his coffin, but softness and warmth. Slowly opening his eyes he found he was lying on a bed. He closed his eyes in thanks, Josh…Josh saved him.

"How are you feeling?" he heard Josh ask. Opening his eyes he saw Josh smiling down at him. Pulling up a chair he sat next to him.

Aidan nodded his head, "Weak, but good." He saw Randal and Cecil sitting at a large table in the room. Nora stood behind Josh.

Looking at Josh, Aidan grinned his thanks. "How long?"

Josh scooted his chair closer, "You were buried nearly a year."

"What happened, while I was gone?" Aidan asked.

Josh sadly shook his head, "So much, I don't know where to begin. Mother is dead, almost all the vampires are. There was some kind of human virus, it infected them all, killed them. If you weren't buried you'd be dead too."

Aidan couldn't believe it, while he was grounded he dreamed of killing Mother a million times in a million different ways. He was not going to be denied his revenge for Suren's death. "Josh, that can't…I mean how could it…I wanted too kill that bitch for what she did to Suren."

Aidan stopped ranting when he saw a large grin on Josh's face. "Aidan, I'm just kidding. It didn't happen, really, Mother is very much alive and I assure you still killable."

Aidan let his head sink into the pillow. "Josh, if I wasn't so weak right now I would kill you."

"Good for me, I guess."

Aidan tried to sit up, Josh helped him. He saw Randal getting up, Aidan pointed to the ceiling.

"Randal, didn't you tell him, vampires never rent rooms unless they have mirrored ceilings and a Jacuzzi."

Randal laughed, "Sorry Aidan, it was the only place available that didn't ask questions. Hard to explain carrying an emaciated Neanderthal into the room."

Aidan touched his face, he realized that someone shaved off his beard. "As much as the bearded look is so in right now," Josh said. "Nora and I shaved the beard and gave your hair a nice trim. With the longer hair we were able to get that Beiber swoop thing going." Josh winked at him, "Really going to hit it off with the girls."

Throwing an angry look at Josh, Aidan began running his fingers through his hair. Josh grabbed his hands, "Kidding! God you get buried for a year and you lose your funny bone."

"Oh CB's always been a tough crowd," Josh heard Fidele say. He was standing in the doorway. Deanna stood next to him. As soon as Aidan saw them, his back hit the headboard.

"Josh she's a witch…we can't…"

Josh placed his hands on Aidan's shoulders, "Calm down Aidan, don't worry. She's on our side. She played a big part in getting you out of that hole."

"Yeah, C B," Fidele said. "Calm down." He skipped around the bed and rested his elbows at the foot of the bed. "Good to see you, been what, decades?"

Aidan's eyes were locked on Deanna, keeping them on her he said, "Good to see you too, DB"

Deanna slowly walked into the room, she stopped next to Fidele. Aidan kept his eyes on her the entire time. Josh cleared his throat, "Um, maybe it's me, but I'm guessing that you guys have some history."

"Yeah," Aidan said in a deep voice, "History." He stared at Deanna, "So now, you look...well now you look like a, um…a witch now."

Deanna angrily crossed her arms, "Ah, Aidan I see that you have not lost your gift for words. I guess some things never change. You're still a swellheaded, vain, egotistical vampire and I'm still a powerful witch. But if you recall, if not for me, you would have been dead long ago."

Aidan's eyes narrowed, "As I recall, I was the one that saved you."

"Saved me?" Deanna shouted. "Why if not for your arrogance we would have all been torn apart that day." The things in the room suddenly began to rattle and jump up with Deanna's anger.

Fidele rested his head on his hands, "Here we go again. He always brings out the worst in her," he said with a giggle.

Josh quickly rushed to Deanna, "You promised you'd behave."

"I am," Deanna said. The rattling suddenly stopped. "He's still alive isn't he?"

Aidan was shocked to see Deanna actually back down to Josh. "Wait a minute, why isn't she spelling you into the next state? What the hell happened while I was down there?" Looking around it was then that Aidan noticed someone was missing. "Sally, where's Sally?"

Josh slowly moved back to Aidan's side. "That's going to take some time to explain."

"Good," Fidele said. "You explain to CB what happened, I'm going out to get us something to eat at the local fast food place. _Love that Chicken at Popeyes_…" he began to sing.

"There and back," Josh warned him. "No short cuts through the bar. The owner of the motel warned me about keeping 'the boy' out of the bar, or he's going to kick us out of here."

"Boy?" Fidele grumped. "I wonder how he'd react if he knew I'm over three thousand years old?" Getting a warning look from Josh he held his hands up in submission. "Fine, I'll stay out of there." Just before closing the door he shouted, "And don't forget to tell him about the vamps you tore apart in the drug store. I love that part."

As he left the room Josh slowly turned, he saw Aidan giving him a confused look. Aidan had just seen Josh chastise Deanna and live, and now giving orders to Fidele…and he listened to him!

"CB, DB?" Josh asked him.

"Pet names," Aidan quickly replied.

"Well," Josh said with a clap of his hands. "I guess I need to fill you in on everything that happened since you've been gone."

"Would appreciate that," Aidan said.

Sitting down Josh started with the night he went to kill Ray.

As Aidan listened he kept a close eye on Deanna. She sat down at the table and also listened to Josh. When he finished Aidan gently touched the bracelet that Josh now wore. He looked at Deanna, he was surprised to see her actually looking apologetic. This was not the Deanna he had known.

"It appears that I'm not the only one that wants to kill Mother."

"No, but you're close to the head of the line," Josh said.

"Do you agree," Deanna said. "Help me finish what I started and I will help you destroy Mother."

Aidan suddenly looked very serious. "I want to be there, be a part of her death. While I was trapped in that coffin, I killed her so many times I lost count. I saw her stake Suren. Her eyes," Aidan swallowed hard, as the memory of her death flooded back to him. "She was staring at me, I was the last thing she saw before Mother killed her."

Aidan struggled to sit up. "I'll help you, I'll do whatever it takes but I want to watch her eyes as she's dying. I want to be the last thing she sees before she dies. That is all I ask."

Deanna nodded her head, "Done, we have an accord then."

Aidan pointed to the bracelet on Josh's wrist. "When this is done, after Mother is dead, will you remove that?"

Deanna slowly shook her head, "As Josh told you before, only death will remove it."

Aidan let out a heavy sigh. "Will a Vampires death do?"

"Aidan, no!" Josh said. "I won't let you do it."

"Josh, all that's happened to you, it was my fault. I led Mother to you, it was my friendship to you that brought all of this on you. It's because of me that…"

"Aidan, shut up," Josh shouted. Closing his mouth in surprise, Josh said, "No matter what happens to me, it will never make me regret that decision I made the day I met you. Aidan Waite, you are my friend, no you're my best friend. Nothing will change that, no matter what happens, I will never regret our friendship. Not Mother or this thing will change that." He raised the hand that wore the bracelet. "And as your friend I'm telling you, I didn't spend the past year trying to get you out of that grave just to have you give your life for some costume jewelry."

"Possessed costume jewelry." Randal corrected him.

"Possessed ugly costume jewelry," Cecil added.

"I have to say," Nora said. "It does bring out your eyes."

Josh chuckled, "Yeah, but I've always been a gold type of guy."

Deanna shook her head in wonder. "I never thought I'd see the day that a Vampire and a wolf would become friends. It is a most wonderful thing."

Deanna touched the bracelet on Josh's arm. "When Mother has finally breathed her last, I promise I will do all in my power to right this wrong."

"Thank you," Josh said.

The room suddenly went very quiet. After a few uncomfortable moments, Aidan looked at Josh. "So, $100,000, you think you're really worth that much?"

Josh's brows frowned with concern. "Um, actually, it sounds a bit low to me."

"That's a lot of money," Aidan said. He tried to stifle a smile. "Would buy a lot of plasma bags."

"Why stop there," Josh said. "You could buy your own hospital."

"That's even better," Aidan agreed.

"I'm so glad," Josh said. "Now all I have to do is turn myself in, did you want that in large bills or small denominations?"

Josh and Aidan looked at each other and began to laugh. "I really missed you," Aidan said.

"Me too," Josh said.

Suddenly Aidan's stomach growled loudly as the door to the room was pushed open. The scent of fried chicken filled the room as Fidele walked in holding several bags. "I was in that hole to long," Aidan said. "DB, That chicken actually smells good."

"Good," Fidele said. "Because I got plenty for all of us."

As they began to eat, Josh asked Aidan, "How exactly did you and Deanna meet? And what the heck does CB and DB mean?"

Fidele was about to open his mouth when Aidan yelled, "Don't you dare, I want them to hear the truth."

Smiling Fidele sang, "Aw, CB, you didn't forget me," and threw him a kiss.

Aidan tiredly sighed, "That's a long story Josh, but I warn you. It was a time that I was, shall we say, walking on the dark side." He released a large yawn.

"Aidan, you rest," Randal said. "I can tell it."

Josh glared at Randal. "You were there?"

"I told you before, I met Deanna years ago, I just didn't say Aidan was there too."

"Well tell," Nora said. "I'm anxious to hear this."

"The year was 1856, five years before the civil war, it was a dark and stormy night."

Everyone moaned, Josh coughed, "Cliché…"

"No guys, really it was dark and stormy, Aidan and I…" As Randal began to tell them how they met Deanna, Aidan closed his eyes. He could faintly hear Randal's voice. Falling asleep, he dreamed of the day he first met the most powerful witch in the world.


	17. Salus Bay

Being Human: When will my Death Begin?

By Ldynwaitin

Chapter Seventeen

Salus Bay

Aidan angrily threw a rock; it tumbled down the cliff and into the ocean below. He was under orders from Mother to help Randal on a search for her elusive shadow. He didn't mind the hunting, what he hated was that Bishop was staying in a nice and warm place while he was forced to go stomping through the mud on some wild goose chase.

"Are we even close?" Aidan growled at Randal.

Randal was squatting on the ground examining tracks in the mud. He shook his head, "No, these are tracks made by a child. The prey we are after is much larger and much older."

Aidan looked up at the sky, it was dark and threatening to rain…again. They were walking on a small dirt road close to a cliff side that overlooked the ocean's shore. A strong wind from the east was violently whipping the clothes they wore. "There's a town ahead," Aidan said. "I recall excellent lodgings there." He licked his lips, "They also had some very tasty young women."

Randal wagged his finger at Aidan, "Do not be causing me any discord, Aidan Waite. You are here to aid me on a hunt, not stir up trouble with the locals."

Aidan innocently grinned at Randal, "I give you my word."

Randal angrily shook his head, "I have heard how good your word is. I told Mother that you were not the right choice to come with me, but she would not listen. She said I am to use your knowledge of the area. But I warn you, I will not have your blood thirsty ways vexing me on this hunt."

Aidan patted Randal on the back. "Randal, the blood of a good woman will change your thinking."

Randal stood up tall, "I have been a Vampire for many years longer than you, I believe I know what is good for me."

Aidan quick stepped down the road. "You are never to old to learn."

The skies opened up with a fury, soaked to the skin Aidan's anger grew stronger. He patted his hat down on his head.

"Why do you wear the thing?" Randal asked him. "It looks as if it should have been burned years ago."

"What, my John Bull?" Aidan asked. He tilted it forward, "Got if off of some snooty Englishman. Found him beating his wife." Aidan slyly grinned, "His wife was very appreciative that I took if off his decapitated head. The woman nearly wore me out that night with her appreciativeness."

"Vexing indeed," Randal growled.

Ignoring him, Aidan pointed ahead. "Salus Bay lies just ahead. It is a small village less than a mile down the road. It sits at the precipice of this cliff, just below it is a small horseshoe bay. There are only two ways to enter the village. We can cover both entrances. If Mother's shadow is there, we will easily catch her."

Aidan hurried towards the village, the storm that raged most of the night had not ceased its fury. The road they walked on was one of two ways into the village. A solid cliff loomed above the village on its right, on the left was a thirty-foot drop to the ocean below. At the far end of the village was a small path that led down into the bay.

Finally reaching Salus Bay, Aidan stopped at the first house. Randal stood by his side. They both could not believe their eyes.

In the darkness of the night, as the lightening flashed, they could see the road was littered with bodies, bodies torn beyond recognition.

"What a waste of good blood," Aidan said. "Randal, what manner of animal could have done this?"

Randal quickly walked up to the nearest body. It was a young woman, half of her face was torn off. Examining the body Randal's eyes grew wide with fright. Standing up he slowly began to pull out his sword. "I have never seen the likes of this before," he whispered to Aidan.

Aidan could hear the fear in his voice. He aimed his rifle ahead. "What do you think it is, werewolves?"

"I know not what animal could have caused such mayhem. The way they were ripped apart and yet nothing was eaten. It is perplexing."

Aidan flipped his gun and held it tight under his arm. "Well if it is dogs, my colt root knows how to handle them." He aimed his rifle ahead. "I hate dogs…wait?" Aidan pointed above. "Bishop has been working on something new with the wolves, he calls them dogfights. I saw them fight several days ago, when the moon was full. This was done tonight, their wounds are fresh. It could not have been a dog attack."

Randal tightly gripped his knife. "I know, that is the perplexing part. Looking at the wounds, my experience as a hunter tells me that this was caused by a beast of claws and fangs."

A small grin parted Aidan's lips, "And here I thought this trip was getting boring. It appears that things have changed for the better."

Randal quickly went to another victim, "Keep your wits about you, Aidan. For whatever butchered them is something that may not be easy to kill. See here," he pointed to the deep slashes in a mans leg. "I now recall having seen claws that big before, but not on this land, not in this continent."

Aidan stood up straight, his eyes searched the town, "What are we looking for?"

Standing up, Randal said, "A creature that should not be here."

"How many of these perplexing creatures?" Aidan asked.

Randal pursed his lips, "It is hard to tell, I see many paw and foot prints. If I would hazard a guess, I would say at least ten…mayhap more."

Aidan twitched, Randal stood stone still when they heard a sound coming from the village. It was something neither had heard in their lives. When they heard another coming from the opposite side of town Aidan said. "I'd feel safer if we were inside."

"Yes," Randal said, "I agree."

They searched the town for a safe place to stay. That was when Aidan heard it, a small dog whimpering. "Guess something did survived."

Randal immediately ran towards the cliff side. "Randal, leave it be!" Aidan shouted. He grudgingly followed him, mumbling "It is just a stupid animal."

Once he reached the edge of the cliff, Randal looked down. He saw a small black dog dangling over the cliff, an iron chain was wrapped around his stomach. The end of the chain had caught on a branch of a bush growing out of the side of the cliff. The dog's cries were so pitiful, Randal quickly tried to pull him up.

He stretched his arms, but the chain was too far. After several tries, he nearly slipped off the cliff. Aidan quickly grabbed his legs.

"You're damned sympathy with animals is going to get us in trouble," he snarled He tried to pull Randal back, but he refused to go.

"I am but a hairs breath away."

Aidan tightly gripped Randal's legs. "I'm cold and wet, I do not have time to wait until sunrise for you to get that blasted dog back up."

With Aidan's help, Randal was able to grab the chain and pull the dog up. Once he brought it back to solid ground, he removed the chain. It was then that Randal noticed that the dog's eyes were bright purple. As soon as he freed it, the dog quickly ran towards the wall of stone that loomed next to town. He headed to what appeared to be the local inn, built in front of the protective blockade of rock. A shingle hung over the door that read, _'The Speckled Owl._'

"That is the thanks you get," Aidan said.

"I did not do it for that," Randal said. He pointed ahead, "The local inn, we may be able to ferret some answers within."

Following the dog, they entered the inn. They immediately found that the same carnage occurred here as well. The smell of blood was so thick both Randal and Aidan's eyes turned black.

"Damn it," Aidan cursed. "Did they leave no one for us to drink?"

Randal sadly shook his head, "I am beginning to fear that no one survived this massacre." Searching the inn, he found no sign of the dog. "Where is the dog?"

"Ask someone that cares," Aidan said. He found a full mug of beer on the table, grabbing it he emptied it in seconds. Wiping his mouth, he pointed to the bar. "I remember this place. Had a saucy barmaid named Sarah." Aidan smiled, "Ah Sarah, she was delicious, her blood had hints of mead."

Randal whistled for the dog, Aidan and Randal pulled their weapons when they heard a voice in the darkness say, "Can you help me?"

Out of the shadows came a young man, it was the same man that lay dead at Aidan's feet. "Please sir, can you help me? I need to find my father. I need to warn him."

"Warn him of what?" Randal asked him.

"The creatures, sir," the young man whispered. "They came, when the sun set. I heard the cries as I was drinking. My father, he warned me to come straight home, but my throat was so dry."

"The creatures," Aidan said. "What are they?"

The young man's hands began to shake hard, "Oh sir, they were horrible. Never have I seen the likes of them before. They ran through the people like a sickle through hay. Then they entered the Inn."

"They looked like a cat, but were so much larger than any that roamed our village. As black as night, their roar was one I have never heard before. Sharp claws and teeth lashed out, killing my friends killing…" The young man looked down at Aidan's feet.

"Oh dear god in heaven, that is me. Oh dear Lord, my father, who will warn my father?"

"Do not worry," Randal said. "If we see him, we will let him know."

"Oh will you good sir? Our farm it lies north of here, you cannot miss it, our last name is Cardinal. My father painted the house bright red."

"We will warn him," Randal said.

The boy smiled his thanks. He blinked his eyes when he saw a door suddenly appear. "That is yours," Randal told him.

The boy looked around, "Are you sure it is mine? I feared that perhaps I did not deserve one, I disobeyed my father."

The door slowly opened, the light flooded the room. As the boy walked to the door, he sadly looked at Randal. "Kind sir, you no longer have to warn my father." He pointed to the door, "He waits for me. I thank you though, for your kind offer." He continued to walk to the door, "Father, I am so sorry. Please forgive me, please forgive me." He stepped over the threshold, the door slammed shut and was gone.

Randal moved to the window, its glass was shattered to pieces. He looked out, through the broken glass, searching the streets. "I know now what killed these people."

Aidan joined him, he aimed his gun through the broken glass. "Well tell me, so I know what to look for."

"I saw one when in Africa nearly a hundred years ago. It was a magnificent animal, a giant cat as black as night, they called it a Black Leopard. But there is one thing that is most curious."

"What is that?" Aidan asked him.

Randal frowned, "Well I was told that the Black leopard is a loner, yet we were just told that they were killing as a group. Most vexing indeed."

"I call it a problem that has to be solved," Aidan said.

Randal carried an overturned table towards the window. Leaning it on its side he sat down, hiding behind the table he looked out the window. He whispered to Aidan, "I suggest we wait here, and see if those creatures return."

For once Aidan agreed with him. He quietly moved to sit next to Randal. He placed the muzzle of his gun on the windowsill.

They silently sat at the window, searching the streets for any sign of a giant black cat. It was almost an hour later when Aidan heard something. It was someone moaning. Placing his index finger on his lips, he warned Randal to be quiet.

Aiming the barrel of his gun at the bar, he waited. In seconds he heard the whimper of a dog. He saw a women slowly appear standing behind the bar. Her hair was long and raven in color. Her face, she was one of the most beautiful women Aidan had ever seen. She held her arm close to her side. Aidan could see dried blood on her sleeve.

A small boy with dark hair helped her walk towards the front of the bar. Randal noticed immediately that the boy wore no clothes, his body was covered in a fine black hair. Reaching the front of the bar, the boy immediately spotted them.

"I thought you were gone," the boy hissed.

Aidan jumped up as the boy immediately changed into the dog they helped earlier. As soon as he changed, he angrily growled at Aidan. The dog then changed into a wolf. The angry wolfs jowls pulled back as he growled and arched his back.

Aidan aimed his gun at the wolf, the woman moved next to the wolf. Her eyes bore into him, Randal heard her humming. Aidan cried out in alarm as his gun flew out of his hands to the other side of the room.

As Aidan ran to fetch it, Randal immediately moved towards the woman. He held his hands up in surrender. "Please, we mean you no harm, we are all in danger."

"Do not grovel, Randal," Aidan told him, as he rushed back to his side. He wrapped the leather sling of the gun around his hand. He was not going to lose it this time.

"Listen to me Aidan, you must put away your firearm, she is the one Mother sent us to find. This is Deanna."

Aidan stared at Deanna, "How could she be a witch? She's young and beautiful."

Deanna's eyes turned dark, she softly began to hum, things in the room began to rattle. "You think of witches as old and ugly. Your idea of a witch has been colored by Mother's lies."

Aidan gripped his rifle tighter, he now aimed it at Deanna. "Well Randal, I guess we found her."

Threatened, her humming grew louder, the tables and chairs in the room now began to shake and hop on the floor. They suddenly stopped when they all heard a snarling coming from outside. Randal stepped closer to Deanna and the wolf. "Deanna, I'm guessing that, that wound was caused by whatever massacred this village."

"Your guess would be right," Deanna said, with a tight voice. "But I ask myself am I in greater danger from Mother's chattel or from them?"

"Chattel!" Aidan growled. "We are not cows."

"Cows?" Deanna laughed. "It appears that Mother is scrapping the bottom of the barrel. I am sorry, should I use smaller words?"

"Let it be, Aidan," Randal warned him.

The snarling noise became louder. Randal whispered, "If what I think is out there, we need to work together."

Deanna spat on the ground, "I would rather kiss the Kings ass."

The wolf suddenly turned back into the small boy. "Deanna, let us not be hasty here. They bound me in iron chains and threw me off the cliff." He pointed to her arm. "You just barely escaped with your life. This may be our only way to get out of here alive."

Deanna angrily shook her head, "I cannot, after what they did to my sisters, I just cannot."

"I admit," Randal softly said. "We did not come here for a mug of beer."

"No," Aidan said. "We were sent by Mother to trap and kill you. Small words but to the point, don't you think?" Fidele immediately turned back into the wolf. The hackles on his neck rose high.

"Aidan," Randal hissed. "You have no idea what killed all these people."

"We don't have…" Aidan began to say, until he heard the snarling outside was a bit to close for comfort. Aidan and Randal quietly moved towards the window. Peeking outside, what Aidan saw made him grip his Root rifle so tight his knuckles turned white. He saw eight colored men slowly walking down the street. Naked as they day they were born, their mouths were covered in blood.

In the center of them, Aidan saw a colored woman. Dressed in the finest of clothes, it was a stark contrast to her appearance. Her skin was wrinkled and tight like worn leather, boney arms stuck out of her frill dress. One of the men spied someone moving. A villager was still alive. As he ran towards him, he began to change. He quickly transformed into a giant black cat. He leapt in the air and pounced on the human. His death cries did not last long. The cat tore him to pieces in seconds. His mouth dripping with blood he returned to his companions.

The colored woman petted the large cat on the head. He quickly transformed back into a man. They slowly walked down the streets in search of live prey. Suddenly they stopped, just outside of the tavern. Turning slowly they began to walk towards the inn.


End file.
